


Dark Road

by TwilightMaster15



Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Kira Wins, Blood and Injury, Brainwashing, Death Eraser, Developing Friendships, Escape, Gen, Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Kidnapping, Manipulation, Mental Breakdown, Psychological Torture, Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:08:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 27,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23732848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwilightMaster15/pseuds/TwilightMaster15
Summary: In the five years since Kira's victory over the SPK and the Task Force, Sayu Yagami has been locked away in a comfortable apartment for her own safety, unaware of the events in the outside world. She is suddenly forced to flee when she comes across Near, who gives her a special Hacking Gun that can fight against the robots and orders her to run.Hopeless and alone, Sayu finds herself saved by serial killer Beyond Birthday, who is searching for the original L to save the world and agrees to team up with Sayu to find Light and escape the city.As Sayu and Beyond go on their journey, fighting against Kira's followers, they learn the original task force is alive but have been brainwashed by Kira. Confronting their own fears, Sayu decides to stay in the city, find her brother, and save the task force from Kira's influence. But who's the mysterious child assisting them?
Relationships: Beyond Birthday & Yagami Sayu, L & Yagami Light, Matsuda Touta & Yagami Sayu
Comments: 9
Kudos: 44





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beginning of the fic is loosely based off Danganronpa Ultra Despair Girls, but it will deviate as time goes on.

There were many things Sayu Yagami didn't know about the world. A world that usurped the concept of common sense, one in which the things society called "common sense" were just things you haven't seen, would be quite a vague and uncertain world. 

Well, these things didn't matter all that much to her. After all, her world wasn't big enough to have to worry about things like what society calls common sense. Which was to say, it was quite small—so small it was laughable. 

The four-room apartment she lived in was her own world, and not because she was a shut-in, but because for five years now, she had been confined against her will. 

As she did every day, Sayu ran at the door which hadn't opened once in the time she had been here, pounding on it, "Let me out! Let me out of here!" 

For the first year of confinement, she had been a shell, traumatized by being kidnapped by the mafia and then losing her Dad. But as time went on and she was seemingly in no danger and was given access to whatever she wanted, she slowly began to focus on the real issue at hand, and not be trapped in the past. And from that moment she decided she wasn't going to submit, this pointless trend had become her daily morning routine. But there was a truth to the idea she had become completely accustomed to this lifestyle. Humans could get used to a scary number of things. 

Of course, Sayu hadn't given up. If she had, she wouldn't stubbornly do things like changing into regular clothes every morning. It's just that she didn't expect a miracle. In her life of confinement, she had been forced to confront some pretty terrible things, like what happened to her mother and especially her older brother.

It made sense for a life of confinement, but unfortunately, as the victim, she didn't understand anything at all. She was brought to this place for reasons she didn't know by people with motives she didn't know. The only communication she had with the culprit was receiving meals, but never a voice or face. Because of that, even now, she didn't know the reason she had been confined. But there was no use in wondering what kind of strange, irrational circumstances these were.

There, her story ended before it began, not harboring any hope something dramatic would happen after all this time.

But of course, as the sister of Light Yagami, nothing was ever that simple, for as soon as she sat down for breakfast, there was a loud banging at the door. 

_What? What's happening?_ She wondered, _Maybe... someone's come to save me?_ Just the idea made her rush over to the door, banging on it, "Please save me! I was imprisoned here. Please! Save me! I hate this life. Open it!"

The door flew open, and Sayu was shocked to see a young man standing there—her age, if not younger. He looked exhausted, and in his hand were two guns, which seemed to be toys.

He looked up at her, brushing a strand of dirty shoulder-length white hair out of his face, "You're Sayu Yagami, right? I'm... Nate River, of the SPK." He stepped inside, throwing the door shut and then slouching against it, "Please don't misunderstand and start screaming. I'm not the one who imprisoned you. I came to save you."

"The SPK?" Sayu brightened, remembering Light mentioning that once, a group of agents meant to help the task force bring Kira to justice! While she knew this man could be lying, he didn't seem anything like the mafia—far too frail, and she wondered if even she might be able to overpower him. He looked exhausted, how long had he been running? "That means you worked with my brother!" 

Nate looked up at her, "Well—" but he was cut off by the door flying off, and the thing that emerged was a robotic monster. Just looking at its hideous face nearly gave her a heart attack, and suddenly all that relief at her beloved brother sending someone to rescue her after all this time was replaced with cold, hard, anguish. That thing looked like a Shinigami from the storybooks... which would mean Kira was still... no... Light couldn't be— 

"Wait...what...what's that... don't come near me!" Nate got up, firing his toy gun, and it released a glowing blue blast, making the robot explode. What had happened in the last five years?! Had Kira taken over, and the SPK and task force was a resistance? What had happened to Light, or Matsuda, or anyone else?! 

Nate took a breath, wincing a little, and from the way he was standing, he had messed up his ankle getting flung by that robotic beast, "Don't think this is a rescue plan. Until I perfected these guns, I was more of a prisoner than you are. But I figured I wouldn't stand a chance on my own, so might as well get you out too. Something's going on outside, a purge of the sort from what I can tell. Riots broke out in this city."

"Riots? What do you mean, a riot?" Sayu practically shrieked, her whole body trembling as she debated whether to cry, faint, or run, "What is happening outside? And this robot...what is all of this?!" Nate sent her an almost condescending look, before shaking himself and grabbing one of her hair ties of the dresser, tying up his unruly hair,

"You know that little about Shinigami or these knockoffs made by Kira worshippers? You really are carefree. If that's the case, I'll tell you everything that's happened in the last five years, but...right now isn't the time for idle chatter." He grabbed her hand, tossing her one of the guns, and they both broke into a sprint towards the elevator, where fires were breaking out around the building. 

It was all happening so fast, going from quiet boring life—was this how Light had felt as a teen? He used to mention occasionally how bored he was, back long before this whole Kira nonsense. There was no way he was bored now, be-because he was alive!

More robots appeared, and Sayu looked around for any escape as Nate glared at the robot, firing his gun. He sent her a look,

"Can you help me out!? I haven't had any more workouts in the last five years than you have, and I'm pretty sure muscle atrophy hasn't been kind to either of us."

"What am I supposed to do?!"

Nate gave a long-suffering sigh, "Just fire the gun at the robots, have you ever played a video game?"

"Um... yeah." They ran down the hall, "What does the gun do? "

"It's a hacking device, using the blueprints from an old... friend of mine... It should be able to fire an electro-magnetic wave of programming code, which is effective against those Shinigami-bots." He started pressing on the elevator button, turning back and firing at the robots, "I know how to use the gun, and I know that I won't be hurt unless Kira orders it—and if he hasn't in the last five years, he isn't going to. You are a different story. I'll take out the robots, you need to make it on your own somehow. This will certainly be an interesting distraction for Kira."

Sayu stumbled a little, "Somehow!?"

"You can run, right?" Nate smiled a little, "I know this is insane, and from what happened to lead you and me into this situation, it's just going to get worse. 

"You say to run...but where?" He shrugged,

"Anywhere but here! If everything is as bad as I believe it is, you should be able to find at least one ally who can protect you. Go quickly. If you're not going to help, you're a burden!"

"Come on, then!" Sayu pleaded, grabbing his free hand, not wanting to lose the first person she had interacted with in years. Nate recoiled,

"I'm not going to be much help with my ankle. Kira wants me alive, take comfort in that, and run!" 

With that, Sayu's survival instinct overrode her morals as she stepped back into the elevator and sprinted out the door, looking up at the building, deciding she was going to look for someone who could help her and Nate.

Running down the street, it was twilight and challenging to see, and for a moment, everything seemed somewhat peaceful.

But then she heard the screams and saw the blood.


	2. Chapter 2

There was blood everywhere as robots like the one which attacked her in the building tore people apart, impaling them with their claws or straight-up gutting them. Sayu felt sick as she almost tripped over someone who had lost their head, and she staggered backward, even more, holding the gun Nate had given her in her trembling hands.

 _Why? Why did this happen? This is totally different from being confined! I have to run... that's right. There has to be someone here that can help...right? Oh, forget that! The city is in chaos! Mom...Light…!_ Just the idea of her mother and brother getting caught up in this sickened her to the core.

Then she spun around, hearing whispering, and then her eyes widened when she saw a young woman karate kick the head off one of the robots. "Hey!" Sayu called, and the woman saw her, mouth agape,

"Sayu?!" She asked, looking her up and down, "You're alive!"

"Yeah." Sayu looked over the young woman, who was probably around eighteen, her chocolate brown hair was in a messy braided ponytail. "Um... do I know you?" 

"Oh, it's been a while." She grabbed Sayu's wrist and started running, "It's me, Yumi Aizawa!"

"Yumi?!" She brightened, remembering Officer Aizawa's daughter, "What's going on? A guy named Nate just got me out of confinement."

"Nate as in Nate River!?" Yumi asked, turning to her as they kept running, and Sayu nodded, causing Yumi to whoop with joy, "Awesome! So he really is alive!" They stopped in a park, which remained mostly intact, "Is he safe?"

Sayu looked back towards the building in the distance, taking in greedy gulps of air, and knowing her adrenaline was the only thing keeping her going, "H...He just told me to run...I don't know anything past that…"

Yumi sighed, pulling an ammunition magazine off her hip, using it to reload her pistol, "I see... I assume he gave you that gun. If it's what I think it is, it will help you more than this 9mm." She gestured for Sayu to crawl under the playground equipment, "I'll call the team to tell the others I found you. They'll be able to explain." She pulled out a walkie-talkie, "Minoru, Taro, I found one of the hostages! We're hiding at Kogai park." She nodded, pulling a bottle of water out of her backpack, "Drink up. I'm sure you need it."

"Thank you." Sayu took the bottle, anxiously peeking out in search of robots, "So if you're here, does that mean your Dad's working with a rebellion against Kira?" Yumi's eyes widened,

"Don't you know what happened?"

"No. I was catatonic in November 2012 and only snapped out of it during confinement after what I think was a year." 

"Shit," Yumi fiddled with her ponytail, "So you don't know about the Yellowbox Warehouse?"

"That old warehouse?" Yumi nodded, and then two other people crawled down with them, both male. 

"I'm Minoru Tanaka," the younger of the two said, shaking Sayu's hand, and he seemed to be around fifteen or sixteen, and the second boy seemed to be Sayu's age if not a little older.

"I'm Taro Kagami." He said, "You're one of the hostages?" Sayu nodded,

"I don't know what's going on. What is all of this that's happening?" Taro nodded, crossing his arms, while Minoru ate a power bar, 

"I see." Taro muttered, "Well then, we don't have much time, but I'll give a simple explanation. First off, we're members of the Rebellion, no fancy name. We're an organization attempting to restore the world and snap people out of the daze Kira has put them in."

Minoru joined in, "Kira's complete takeover can already be called more than an incident...say, a 'phenomenon.' It started as one incident, but Kira's victory over Japan led to multiple incidents that occurred around the world simultaneously... Because of that incident, the world took devastating damage."

"Kira... really won?" Her stomach dropped, thinking about Light, who was in charge of the task force. Did this mean he was...

"Are you okay?" Yumi asked, "Are you listening?"

"I...I'm sorry." Sayu shook herself, "It's so much to take in...I'm focusing as hard as I can…please, just tell me what happened to the task force. My brother was leading them, I need to know he's alive!"

There was silence among the group, and already Sayu knew something terrible was happening before Yumi was the one who spoke, tears in her eyes, "It's... unclear what exactly happened. Just that the task force and a group known as the SPK has submitted to Kira. I was one of the captives, so I would assume the hostages were used to keep the members behaving, but it's been five years now and..."

"We think the task force was brainwashed by Kira." Taro explained as Yumi started crying, "We've seen Yumi's Dad out and about from time to time, as well as Officers Mogi and Ide. Officer Matsuda has yet to be seen, but nobody knows why. As for your brother..."

"What does he look like?" Minoru asked, and Sayu hugged herself, sniffling at the idea Light could be brainwashed, or her life was being used to force him to obey. She still had hope he had used his brilliance to escape.

"He should be about twenty-eight by now... pale brown hair, dark eyes, very attractive and pretty underweight, usually wearing a suit." 

"Nope." Minoru shook his head, "I haven't heard about him either. But I remember there was a rumor about Kira keeping a trophy of his victory in his headquarters. Maybe your brother's there?" Yumi smacked Minoru's arm,

"Don't give her false hope!"

But to Sayu, that made perfect sense, for the leader of the task force, the second L, greatest detective in the world, to be held captive as a trophy. Meaning that he might still be alive, and now that she was free, they could escape together, and Light could help lead the Rebellion.

She forced herself to remain optimistic that Light was being held captive but otherwise fine. Kira wouldn't actually hurt him, right? Wait...

"Hold on, so Kira wants to create world peace. What's with this riot then?" 

Taro sighed, "Well... it's complicated. There are a lot of rumors and theories as to why, but the general consensus is multiple people are using the Kira name."

"What?!" Sayu's eyes widened as she remembered the much more vicious second Kira. "So, this is the second Kira's doing?!"

"Possibly." Yumi said, "But no matter how many lives have been lost, it's never gotten this bloody before. Something's changed. If I had to guess, it's in response to the Rebellion growing stronger once we got Taro on our side."

"Really?" Sayu smiled, "You're important."

"I was given Kira's ability to kill about a year before Kira did. We use it to fight fire with fire and take out Kira's minions." Sayu gasped,

"You did?!"

"Yes. And I had a friend use it on myself and then erase my name, so it seems that I am immune, and that doesn't make Kira happy, especially when I started doing this for other members of the Rebellion, so we're all unable to be killed by the Death Note."

"I think I get it," Sayu examined her hacking gun, "So because magic can't kill the Rebellion anymore, Kira decided to go the old fashion way." 

"That seems to be the case. The worshippers may also want to retrieve our Death Note for Kira's own purposes." Minoru said, "But right now, collecting intel is less important than getting away. We're trying to find the hostages and get out of here."

"Th-That's right." Sayu nodded, "We should run away quickly. Because if we stay here... we'll be killed." She looked down, "But isn't my brother a hostage? We can't leave without him, right?!" 

"We don't know he's a hostage," Yumi reminded her firmly, "That's just a theory." 

"Wait!" Taro peeked out, "Do you hear something?"

"Over there!" Everyone panicked when they heard a voice outside, and Sayu peeked out, horrified to see Mogi. Yumi got out her gun,

"Scatter!" 

That's what they all did, running in different directions to make sure that even if one was pursued, the others were safe. Sayu had no idea where she was going to go, so she decided to go for the route to her old home, praying to find her mother there.

But, having not had much in the way of any form of exercise in years, she found herself exhausted and weak after a couple minutes of running, her lungs burning mercilessly. Her vision blurred, and she heard someone calling her name,

 _"Sayu!"_ Then she felt something pressed up against her face, and she knew no more.

OoOoO

"Hey...can you hear me…?" That small voice was what woke Sayu up, "Hey, are you okay?"

Sayu opened her eyes, finding herself in a small bedroom, much nicer than the one in confinement, and she found herself in a beautiful silk nightgown. She blinked a few times, looking around, looking for the source of the voice, and her brow furrowed at the sight of a child who couldn't have been older than five. The child's cocoa eyes were really familiar, but his almost windswept blonde hair was not. She also noticed he was wearing a small sky-blue button-up shirt

"Wh...Who are you?" The child pointed at himself curiously,

"Me?" She nodded, and the boy brightened, "Oh! I'm Hoshi! Nice to meet you, Miss Sayu. But enough about me; shall we talk about you? Mr. Mogi brought you here, but Mother worried you were in another trance. You were fast asleep for a full day, you know." 

"A day?!" Hoshi nodded, and Sayu took note of the peculiarly mature way the child spoke, meaning he was bright and had probably not had a proper childhood. "Wh-What's going to happen?" She asked, then realized that if Mogi brought her here, that meant either he was working for the Rebellion in secret and had taken her there, or this was Kira's headquarters; the place she might be able to find Light, "Hoshi, does the name Light Yagami mean anything to you? Kira's trophy."

Hoshi seemed confused before shaking his head, "I can ask Dad, though." 

"Dad?" Her eyes widened as she thought of something terrible, "Are you Kira's child?" When Hoshi nodded, she recoiled back like she had been burnt, "Stay away from me!"

"Why? I just want to help. Mommy said I should help you, and I should return this." He held out the hacking gun, which Sayu took, shocked Kira's spawn would be giving her something to fight back. Who was the child's Mommy? "Sorry for borrowing it without asking. I wanted to see what it did. It's cool! Mommy said that Mr. Near outdid himself."

"Near? I got this from a man named Nate?" Then she figured that maybe Near was an alias of Nate's.

_"Once I have the Death Note in my possession, I will catch Kira and prove I am better than Near!"_

She gasped audibly, remembering Mello's words years ago, as they had stuck with her. Nate... Near!? Then she snapped out of it, forcing those memories into the past.

"Why are you giving this back to me?" She asked, "Thank you, but I wouldn't think Kira's kid would." Hoshi put a finger to his lips,

"Mommy said it's a secret from Dad, and it might make him make Mother stop the robots. So come on, I'm gonna get you out of here!" 

"Wait, Mother and Mommy are two different people?" Hoshi nodded, running over and grabbing Sayu some clothes, much more suitable for running in.

"Yeah. Mother forgets I exist unless I do something bad, always fussing over Dad. But Mommy takes care of me. Dad says I've been helping Mommy feel better because he's always sad." 

_Hold on... Mommy is a he and is sad? Is... Could it be?_

She threw on the clothes and Hoshi covered his eyes, "Hoshi, what's your Mommy's name?"

"Um... Dad always calls him L." 

"Light!" She got excited, "Hoshi, take me to your Mommy!" It made sense now, why this person would care about her getting out of here! Of course, it had to be Light!

She deflated when Hoshi looked at the floor, shaking his head, "Mommy said we can't waste time. And his door is guarded, so we wouldn't be able to get out."

Sayu thought about it. This was a good point, and she didn't want to blow the chance Light was giving her. So all she needed to do was figure out where she was, and then tell the Rebellion. They could all go in, rescue Light, and then Light would be able to lead the Rebellion against Kira, and maybe convince Hoshi to come with, and if Kira cared about his son at all, he might listen—or at least wouldn't go full murder spree.

"Come on!" Hoshi grabbed her hand and dragged her along the hallway, "Dad's in Russia, but there are still people here." He started speaking in a whisper, and he looked towards her hand, "Oh, keep it a secret that I gave the gun back to you, okay? Unless you want to die." She felt a shiver up her spine hearing such dark words from a kid, but what was she supposed to expect from Kira's son? Though if Light had been raising Hoshi, it made sense why the kid was so smart. 

"Wait, Hoshi, do you know anything about Matsuda?" She thought back to her friend, who Taro mentioned hadn't been seen. Hoshi had to know, right? 

And he clearly did, "Matsu?" That nickname, where had she heard it before? "He's a little crazy, but he's okay." While Sayu had heard Matsuda described as a little crazy back years ago, it had been in jest, and hearing it from Kira's kid did not give her hope as to Matsuda's mental state.

"Hi, Ryuk!" Hearing Hoshi addressing someone made Sayu hastily stuff the gun at her hip, hidden under her jacket. But she looked around and saw nobody, yet Hoshi was staring to the left as though he did see somebody, "Miss Sayu said she was hungry, so I'm taking her for something to eat." He made cheerful noises, before nodding, "Sure! Just give me a little bit, okie?" There was silence for a moment, and then Hoshi relaxed, "Phew."

"What was that?" She asked, wondering if the child was schizophrenic. Hoshi looked up,

"That was Dad's Shinigami friend. But we gotta hurry, he's gonna want an apple soon, and I don't want him getting suspicious." This whole thing was so weird that Sayu just gave up trying to understand. Shinigami were real? 

She found herself at the top of a building, so tall that she instantly knew where they were—that building which had been built about ten years ago and had been abandoned for some reason about three months after it was constructed. She looked back at the stairs, 

"I'll come back for you, Light... I promise. I'll get reinforcements, and I'll come back." She looked around, "Where am I supposed to...?" Hoshi ran to the side, grabbing what looked to be a parachute, and Sayu helped him strap it to her. It didn't feel right, but it would work, and she had to get this done before her adrenaline or critical thinking ran out, and she went to cry in her brother's arms on instinct, still terrified and needing to know he was okay. But she took comfort in knowing that if Kira was having Light take care of his son, then Light was probably doing decently enough, except for being forced to watch what he had fought for fall apart around him.

"Good luck!" Hoshi waved at her before running back down the stairs. Sayu watched the child go, glad to see Light had clearly influenced the boy for the better, and his horrible father had yet to corrupt him. 

"Take care of your Mommy for me!" She called to him, and she smiled a bit, "Hang on just a little longer, Light." She then ran and jumped off the building, using the controls on the parachute to get far enough away from the building that she wouldn't be captured immediately.

Upon landing, it took a moment to get the parachute off, but she rapidly found herself surrounded by robots, and she got out the gun, having no clue how to shoot, but if she had two cops as relatives, surely she had at least some idea.

But she found it unnecessary as a blur appeared out of nowhere, and the robots were torn apart by two pairs of scissors wielded by a person faster than should be possible.

All the robots were destroyed in a matter of seconds, and the figure stopped, his back turned to her, and he started laughing hysterically, but that cackle was not human. Sayu's first thought was what she pictured a Shinigami's laugh to be.

When the laughter finally subsided, the stranger turned his head to slowly face her, "Found you," he said menacingly, drawing out each syllable. 

OoOoO

After giving the apple to Ryuk, Hoshi rushed past the guards who bowed to him and entered the second largest and highest quality room in the whole building, where one very much alive L Lawliet was staring out the window and slowly turned to face the child.

"Is it done?" He asked, and Hoshi nodded, running into his Mommy's waiting arms, and he looked down, seeing the chain around L's ankle. The cuff was extended, allowing him to walk the room as he pleased, but he couldn't leave, or more specifically, couldn't jump out the window and end it all.

"Yeah! I did it like you said, but... Miss Sayu kept talking about Light?" He cocked his head, "I said you're L, and she said Light." 

L tensed, "Oh no... this is bad. If she thinks I'm her brother, she might come back here, and this could ruin everything!" He sighed, tearing at his hair, looking to an ashamed Hoshi, "Oh, Hoshi, it's not your fault. I should have suspected this would happen. Five years has made me lose my touch." He shook his head, looking out the window, "No matter. Kira will still focus his efforts on retrieving her instead of punishing the Rebellion and Near." He thought to his successor, the one who was only kept alive as long as L behaved. Nate was all he had left, having been revived into a world where he had lost everything, even his identity. And if he and Hoshi played their cards right, they might be able to turn Light against Misa and Mikami.

He did feel a little bad for using Light's somehow pure son in his plans to take down Kira subtly from the inside, but he had been waiting too many years for the right opportunity for morals to stop him now. And Light seemed to honestly care for his child—Misa was the one L was worried about. But no matter, she was still stupid, and that would hopefully work out.

"Come on, Hoshi, do you want to play some chess?" Hoshi nodded excitedly, getting the board set up on the table close to the window. L sat down, seeing the cake which had been offered to him earlier. He didn't want to eat, preferring to starve and die, detesting this new world with every fiber of his being, remembering his loved ones' blood had been spilled to make it happen. But the last time he had tried to end it all, Nate had paid the price, so he had no choice but to eat enough to stay alive.

_Sayu, good luck._


	3. Chapter 3

Sayu stood frozen, staring at the stranger who had just saved her but also looked like he planned to kill her. He stared momentarily, then charged at her with superhuman speed, getting up in her face in an almost hysterical fashion, scissors at the ready,

"Hey! You! You're that Sayu Yagami chick, right? You are right? Right? Right?" He snipped the scissors close to her face, laughing, and she knew this man was insane, "If not, you better tell me. Or I'll cut you to ribbons and line you up at the meat counter." Sayu's entire body trembled as she looked down at the blades so close to her face,

"Yes! I'm Sayu Yagami!" The scissors lowered as the stranger relaxed before he turned in an annoyed fashion to the side,

"Huh?" More robots appeared, and the man huffed, "More of you? Really?" He sighed, "Killing these things is so tedious—there's no fun to be found in it at all!" But Sayu was more concerned with the sheer number of those things,

"There's so many of them…"

"Ugh, what a pain." The stranger threw a pair of scissors into the neck of one of the robots, decapitating it, "It's time to run!" He grabbed her hand and broke into a sprint, and upon realizing Sayu couldn't keep up, he threw her over his shoulder until they were on a different roof, and he set her down. He looked back to where the robots were looking around, confused, "So those robots are all totally automated. I see... I see... 'cause until now, I thought they were all being controlled by Kira's puppets. Ha! No wonder it sucks so badly, that's modern technology for you—it looks cool but fails fast." He shrugged, "But ya know, this isn't sci-fi. It's borderline sci-fi at most."

"U-um…" Sayu stared at him awkwardly, looking him up and down. He was a tone and subtly muscular yet simultaneously wiry man with what seemed to be over a decade old burn scars on the left side of his body, almost to his surprisingly ruggedly handsome face but not quite. Sayu then wondered what the hell was wrong with her for instantly thinking about the attractiveness of this guy who she didn't even know the age of, before figuring that today was the first time she had seen any human beings in years. She was bound to recognize some eye candy.

He turned to look at her, before smiling politely, "Yes, madame, what business do you have with me?" Then the submissive facade faded away with a laugh, "Come on, spit it out."

"Did—Did you...maybe come to save me?" To her dismay, she now had a pair of scissors in her face again, but it seemed to be less a threat and more just the way he was holding the weapon.

"So, where's Nate? Or even better if you know where my dear Lawliet is. You do know him, of course?"

"Um..." She backed up a little, "I know Nate, yes. I think he was taken captive by the robots. But I don't know any Lawliet. I've never even heard the name before."

The stranger relaxed his grip on the scissors, hiding them seemingly in his pants, "Oh, of course, very few know his true name. I'm referring to L, the greatest detective in the world." 

"Wait, L?" Sayu frowned, "My brother isn't named Lawliet. Light, yes, but not lowlight." She watched the look of confusion morph into a rage, but thankfully it wasn't directed at her,

"So, it's true that he really was replaced!" He smiled creepily, but his voice was poisonously sweet as he asked, "You wouldn't happen to know why, now would you?"

"No! I promise you, I don't." She felt tears in her eyes, "I just know that something happened and Light took his place. But now Light's a prisoner to Kira, and I have to save him so he can lead the Rebellion to victory. Come on, can you at least just clearly tell me whether you're my enemy or my friend?"

The stranger softened, before scoffing, "Of course I shouldn't have been foolish enough to think you'd know classified information. You can say I'm...an ally."

Alright, that was good to hear. Sayu decided that maybe his erratic behavior was because he was really worried about the original L, who, from the sounds of things, was either a close friend or something more. It had been ten years since Light took the original L's place, so obviously, he must be worried sick. She was glad she had overheard the task force talking years ago because that was the only reason she knew Light was the new L. "Then we should stop messing around and run! If we don't, we'll soon be attacked!"

"It'll be okay." The man assured, "I can deal with it. Though I do suggest getting practice with that gun. It looks like something that would be found at Wammy's House, meaning it will be invaluable to us."

"Um...I still don't know your name...sir." The stranger's brow furrowed, 

"Well...at any rate, you'll probably forget my name soon enough, but I'm Beyond Birthday. That's an alias, but as you can probably guess, real names get you killed around here. Not that it matters to me since Kira's already tried to kill me once and failed."

"May I ask where the alias came from?"

"I know the exact day anyone I see is going to die. It's a curse of mine, being able to see the name and lifespan of anyone. You seem to have a decently long life ahead of you. How old are you?"

"Isn't it a huge no to ask a woman her age?"

"I want to know how long you're gonna live."

"Fine. I'm twenty-five. How about you return the favor?" 

"So you are gonna last a while. Good." He rolled his eyes, "I'm thirty-five." Wow, she had not guessed that from looking at him. He shrugged, "But that's not much of a priority."

"You know..." she bit her lip, "I feel like I've heard the name Beyond Birthday somewhere…"

"I wouldn't think someone in Japan would. And do you have any idea what a pain in the ass it was to get here as a legally dead individual such as myself without Kira finding out?" 

A thought came to her. Years ago, Light used to look up cases all the time and had become fascinated by them. On one of the rare days his door wasn't locked, she saw him researching the LABB murder case. Her eyes widened, before laughing awkwardly, 

"Wait... No, I'm wrong. My apologies, I was mistaken."

"What?"

"Aah, well, I thought saw a name like that in reports about a serial killer, which my brother was looking up about ten years ago to learn about being a detective. But...that couldn't possibly be it."

Beyond paused, his entire body tensing, "That's it."

"Eeehh!?" She scrambled away, but he held up a hand as though telling her to relax,

"Don't worry. That was twelve years ago and honestly more a complicated suicide attempt while also giving Lawlipop the finger than anything else. Besides, all my victims were people who were going to die that day anyway." That morbidly brought her a little comfort, and she decided to try changing the subject,

"So, what is your relationship with L?"

"Grew up together. I haven't seen L in over a decade, and with how the world's gone to hell, I have reason to believe he's being held captive by Kira. I miss him, and I'm worried." Sayu brightened,

"My brother's being held captive too. It makes sense, doesn't it? For Kira to have both Ls as prisoners and trophies as proof of his victory." But in truth, Sayu was almost positive that the original L was dead—after all, why would Light have ever needed to replace him? But the last thing she wanted was to drive a supposedly former serial killer over the edge again.

She felt like a horrible person for manipulating him, but then she remembered what Light had said, _"A flaw is only that way until it's useful."_ She'd always had a manipulative side of her, and she knew Light did too since they had often subtly been trying to manipulate each other in their childhood as a sort of game. For Light, it was to sharpen his skills as an officer to goad confessions out of people, but for Sayu, she'd just had a knack for it, and it was fun almost competing against someone equally talented at it. It had made her feel less terrible for having such a skill, knowing someone kind and noble like her beloved brother was capable of the same thing and used it for the greater good.

But now she felt terrible, trying to lead Beyond Birthday on with false hope, just so she could save her own brother. But of course, she didn't know for sure that Lawliet was dead, so maybe it wasn't a lie. And on the off chance it was, she had never actually lied, just omitted.

And she needed him. He clearly knew how to survive out here, and he might know how to find the rest of the Rebellion. The only reason she was able to think right now was she understood he could protect her if she was on his good side. 

"Either way, you're very confident. If we have your ability on our side, we can win against the robots and Kira easily!" Beyond Birthday shrugged, his hands in his pockets,

"So...what's your relationship with Nate?"

"He saved me...He gave me this at the time…" she gestured to the gun. Beyond nodded,

"So he's probably in hot water with Kira. But he's still not dead, even after all these years, even though the other two are. Interesting." Sayu decided she didn't want to know what he was referring to for the time being. But then she noticed an extremely haunted look in Beyond's reddish-brown eyes, 

"What's wrong?" He snapped up,

"It's nothing! Anyway, I want to get started looking for L and possibly your brother too. In this place, there's no time to dawdle." Sayu beamed,

"You're going to help me save Light and escape the city?"

"Yes. The only reason I care about your brother is he will know what happened to L. And we need to escape the city since it's no good to plan a way to take down Kira when we're in constant fear of being captured."

"Right. For now, we should get off this building."

Beyond shrugged, pulling out some scissors and pointing in front of them towards where the staircase was to get off the roof, "If you're on board, then go ahead."

"What!? Me?"

"You do have the gun, don't you? If worst comes to worst, I'll make it somehow. But it wouldn't do for you to die here, after all… Come on, get moving without complaining. I don't intend to stay here like a sitting duck any longer."

Sayu sighed, "Okay, I get it…" she hesitantly walked towards the stairs.

OoOoO

Light yawned, drinking some coffee he had been given by one of the servants upon landing. He was exhausted after not sleeping for the last three days and being jetlagged, and he was ready to have a lovely rest with some peace of mind upon knowing that Russia had finally as a whole bowed down to Kira. But no, there were robots everywhere slaughtering people, and his worshippers seemed to be having fun tearing people apart with them. The first course of action, before all else, was to figure out what he had missed.

In hindsight, he should have known better than to think he could leave Misa alone for five minutes without her doing something monumentally stupid since she had no idea what actually pleased him even though she claimed she did.

He walked into the main room and froze when he saw Misa grabbing their son by the wrist and squeezing painfully as Hoshi cried out.

"You worthless little—Darling!" Misa perked up upon seeing him and ran to him, trying to kiss him, but he shoved her off with a nasty glare. Mikami bowed before him,

"Explain." Light demanded, "I left you alone for a week while I went and brought Russia to Kira's will, and I come back to bloodshed and you hurting my son?!" He looked up to Midora, another Shinigami, and huffed.

See, the Shinigami King apparently adored Kira, so he had no problem with other Shinigami coming down to Earth to amuse themselves, and thus Misa had gotten her hands on another damn Death Note. Light had been so excited that he could get rid of her finally, but no, damn bitch had another notebook. Maybe this time, he would get lucky, and since she had halved her lifespan thrice now—even if two Shinigami had died for her and how the hell did someone as annoying as Misa manage that—she would finally die. 

If another fucking Shinigami died for her, he was going to write her name because he couldn't take this anymore. Ten years with his borderline rapist fiancé was far too much. 

But on the bright side, the limit of notebooks in the human world was seven, and Light had six. His own, Misa's, Mikami's, and Matsuda's were the active ones, there was one hidden in a safe for backup, and there was one which technically belonged to Hoshi, not that the boy used it. Yes, Matsuda had a Death Note.

Misa smiled, quite pleased with herself, "Remember how the Rebellion is immune to the Death Note since they have a notebook and eraser too? Well, I thought we should use robots, give them to the worshippers, and let them handle things!"

"And do you not remember how trusting the worshippers went in New York five years ago?" Light snapped, "The world is not perfect yet, people are still corrupt when given too much power. How many of those people could be pretending to value justice and are merely murdering people?! And what about the fact I found you trying to break Hoshi's wrist?!" He noticed Hoshi was hiding behind his legs now, and he looked down at his son who he cherished more than he had ever expected,

Mikami was the one to explain, "Kami, while you were gone, Nate made another escape attempt and not only created a hacking gun against the robots, but released Sayu from her apartment! We managed to recover her, but Hoshi led her out and let her escape into the city!"

"I'm not sorry." Hoshi snapped up at Mikami, and Light was taken aback as well as horrified by what he was hearing. Nate was going to pay for this, but first... he bent down, so he was at Hoshi's level,

"Hoshi, why did you send Sayu back out into the dangerous city?"

"Because—Because I know what happens to people who Mr. Mogi, Mr. Aizawa, and Mr. Ide bring in. She doesn't seem bad, I didn't want her to be hurt or twisted up like Matsu."

Light softened, "Do you know who Sayu is to me?" Hoshi shook his head, and Light glared at Mikami and Misa, who both gasped as though they too hadn't realized this. Of course, they had probably assumed L would—goddamnit, L was undoubtedly the one who planted that idea in Hoshi's head. "Sayu is my sister, Hoshi. I would never do anything to hurt her. She was safe here. I am glad you stood up for the justice you believed in, but you need to gather the facts first before making your judgment. By any chance was L the one to suggest Sayu would be hurt by me?" Hoshi's silence was all the answer Light needed. Still, he was an exhausted father before he was a God, so he picked up his shaking son and once again glared darkly at Misa and Mikami. "I'm taking him to the infirmary to have his wrist examined, then I am going to have some words with L. Don't think I have forgotten about you two, because your actions without my knowledge or agreement are downright stupid. I expected something as foolish as this from Misa, but _you_ Mikami?" He groaned, "Where's Takada when you need her?"

"She's dead, Kami." Mikami reminded him, "She died when Miheal Keehl kidnapped her." 

"Yes, yes, I know." He walked out of the room, and Hoshi looked up at him nervously with identical cocoa eyes,

"Dad, are you mad at me?"

"Hoshi, I am enraged at so many people at the moment, and I am tired to the point it is hard to tell who I'm mad at anymore. But even if I do end up mad at you, take comfort in knowing that I won't hurt you like your mother did. You defended what you believed in, and I'd be a hypocrite for giving you a hard time, even if you were severely misinformed about the situation, which is the fault of the adults surrounding you. All will be well. I'll bring Sayu back, and you can get to know your aunt."

"Dad, is your name Light?" Light paused, realizing that Hoshi had never heard his real name since Misa always used pet names, Mikami called him Kami, and everyone else, including L, called him Kira.

"Yes. What's brought this about?"

"Ms. Sayu mentioned she was worried about you and I didn't know the name, and it makes more sense if she's your sister." Ah, Sayu, as kindhearted as always.

He got down to the infirmary and dropped Hoshi off, then went off to talk to L. He found the man in question was lying in bed, and it appeared he was once again in the middle of dissociating—he did that a lot since getting revived. He waited for about ten minutes before realizing it was going to be a couple hours or even days before L snapped out of this state if this was anything like the previous times. So he decided to talk to L later and went back to yell at Misa and Mikami after getting another mug of coffee, knowing he was going to be pulling another allnighter. 

"You both are fortunate that your eyes are useful to me, but... you know what, if you both are so stupid as to cause a massacre like this, are you really so sure I need you? After all, I could always call upon Matsuda." Both tensed, thinking about what the formerly goofy young officer had become. Light smirked, knowing he had their attention, "Find Sayu and bring her back. Of course, your behavior has undoubtedly turned the people against Kira further and especially Sayu. How are we supposed to show her the good in what I'm doing if you two are such screwups?"

"Oh, Kami, forgive me!" Mikami threw himself at Light's feet, and Misa just tried to kiss Light again, and he shoved her away.

"Fix this problem." He sneered, and Mikami scrambled away. Light glared at Misa, "You too, and once again, you've proven by harming _my_ son to be someone I should have killed a long time ago. And I grow tired of you," alright, maybe he hadn't slept in days and was using this one thing as an excuse to finally be rid of Misa, but did it matter? Mikami had been the one to help him secure his victory, so he was more than likely going to forgive the prosecutor, but Misa was going to die soon at this rate. 

Midora just laughed and ate a banana—a Shinigami who was more like Ryuk and would hopefully not go dying for Misa.

Light then stormed off, not trusting Misa would get the job done at all. The task force would do, and more accurately, Matsuda. 

He knocked on the door to Matsuda's chambers, and the older officer answered by saying softly, "Come in." 

Light entered and saw Matsuda's Death Note was sitting on the desk, and Matsuda sitting on the floor by the window with a sketchbook, which Light knew housed countless plans.

To the surprise of nobody at all, Matsuda had been the first to break among the task force. But what _nobody_ had suspected, however, was that in the right circumstances and given a chance to prove himself with unlimited resources and time to learn, Matsuda was actually brilliant.

Light's weakness had always been his struggles to predict the actions of others—it had nearly cost him his victory against Near—but that was where Matsuda excelled, and his analysis of a person was astounding. He was far more observant than he had ever been given credit for—and it stroked Light's ego to know someone as shockingly intelligent as Matsuda hadn't been able to pick up on him being Kira. Light's plans focused on his own actions, but Matsuda was unnervingly good at playing the puppetmaster in a scheme.

But at the same time, Matsuda's goofy personality had become demented in a sense, and he held no remorse for using anyone as a puppet. To this day, Light had no idea what had sparked that aspect of Matsuda's change. The rest of the task force had bowed to Kira after months of undergoing the same brainwashing, but they still had most of their personalities intact, but not Matsuda.

Sure, there were some times the old Matsuda came out, but those moments were rare, and mostly happened when someone accidentally used that one word, which sent him into a hysterical breakdown.

Matsuda looked up with a smile so much like five years ago, but at the same time nowhere close, "Yes, my lord?"

"We need you." Light explained what had happened, and Matsuda nodded, chuckling a little,

"I figured. Misa likes to prance around like she's the Queen around here, saying that she's your favorite, and every choice she makes would be approved by you. Of course, this is false. I assume she is to have an 'unfortunate accident' soon." Matsuda's voice sounded the same as it used to, even as he said such words. The only difference was his speech was slightly softer.

"Yes. Misa has outlived any shred of usefulness. I doubt she will even manage to bring Sayu back."

"Don't worry, Kira-Sama. I have known about what happened from the moment it did, and I am already executing a plan as we speak to get her back."

"Excellent." Light nodded, and Matsuda bowed his head respectfully,

"Have I pleased you?"

"Yes, Matsuda. You are, at the moment, my favorite, and I have faith that your plan will work." Matsuda's grin was now the same one from years ago, as praise was something that brought out the person he used to be. "Do you need the task force, or should I deploy them somewhere else?"

"I suggest placing at least one in the subway, as Sayu may try to escape the city to gather allies for the Rebellion, who she came in contact with briefly upon her escape. One more thing, Nate River is being held in a solitary confinement cell, heavily guarded and bound with no hope of escape."

In a normal situation, Light would plan how to get his sister back by himself, but Matsuda already had a plan and was by far more competent than anyone else except L and Light himself. If someone had informed him five years ago that Matsuda would be his smartest ally, he would have laughed and told that person to sober up.

As Light left Matsuda's room, Ryuk appeared,

"So, how was the trip?"

"The one good thing that's happened today. I can't leave anyone except Matsuda alone for five minutes without everything going wrong."

"No, you really can't." 

Light groaned.


	4. Chapter 4

After hastily running down the creepy and unlit stairwell, Sayu looked around the hallways with muted colors, which were familiar but not, as she hadn't seen a place like this in a long time, "Is this a hospital?"

"Whatever it is, it's dark and depressing," Beyond Birthday stated, looking behind them with his scissors at the ready. He then relaxed, gesturing for her to follow him towards a shutter. At the sight of it, he paused, "Why is the shutter here? This wasn't here when I was headed to the roof before. What's going on?" He put his blades away and started shaking it. Sayu came over,

"We can't open it…?"

"There's no power, so it's probably going to be difficult, so obviously the best course of action is to find the generator."

"Alright. Where would that be?"

"Only one way to find out, now isn't there?" He started walking, and Sayu followed, nausea churning her stomach at all the people torn apart in the hall.

"Are those people de-dead?"

"Why, yes, they are." Beyond replied casually, as though this didn't concern him at all, "It's a shame, really. But anyway, stop looking at the dead bodies before you get sick. I am surprised though—everyone I've interacted with during the last five years is apathetic about death."

"I know..." She shuddered, "It's just that this is so... not Kira. And even if it was, I always thought my brother would defeat him."

"Well, life is full of disappointments." They walked down the creepy stairs into a room, "Look what I found! A power panel!" He flipped a switch, and the lights came on, "That worked, meaning we should get out of here quickly before someone unfavorable notices."

"E-Excuse me...Beyond Birthday?"

"You can call me Beyond or even just B, it doesn't matter that much,"

"Well then, B, this gun that Nate gave me... instead of me, don't you think you should be using it?" Beyond examined the gun, shrugging,

"I work better with direct combat, but since you aren't as experienced, a gun works better for you. Besides, I can't be doing all the work, now can I?" He frowned as they headed up the stairs and were met with the face of a robot.

"Ah! It's one of them!"

"Destroy it with your gun!" Sayu fired, and the robot deactivated, allowing them to sneak past, and she found herself standing as close to Beyond Birthday as she could without invading his space too much.

They came across three more robots before leading down the stairs now that the shutter was open. "So which way to get—AH!" She was caught off guard by another robot appearing in her blind spot and slashing her across the side. It wasn't deep, but it did hurt, and she fired directly into its eye—which she had noticed seemed to be a weak spot.

"Are you okay?" Beyond asked, and she nodded, looking down at her injury,

"It's not bad. The blood's already drying. If I had been even a centimeter closer, that could have been really bad." They kept walking and found something near another dead body, "Hey, what's that?"

Beyond walked over, picking it up and frowning, "It's a backpack and a medical kit." He took it out and examined them both intently, "No, there are no trackers unless it's microscopic." Either way, it's pretty handy since there's some hydrogen peroxide in here and cotton rounds. Hold still." He used some and dabbed it against her wound. Sayu hissed but made no move to stop him.

"I'm wondering whose errands they're running." Beyond Birthday muttered, and Sayu cocked her head,

"Hm? Errands...?"

Beyond Birthday tensed a little, "It doesn't really matter...we can wonder all we want about what these foolish worshippers are doing, but it won't do anything. I doubt even half of the people with influence over these robots actually care about Kira—they're probably just bad people trying to hurt others for their own gain. That's what a riot is, and it makes me wonder if this slaughter was even Kira's doing. It's messy, much messier than Kira's style."

"Not Kira's doing? I'll admit, it struck me as odd too. But about ten years ago, there was a Second Kira who was much more ruthless than the original. Maybe this is the Second Kira's doing. But what is the first doing, then?"

"We can't worry about that now. I can hear that some are heading this way, so we gotta hurry down to the next floor, which is the ground floor. Can you walk?" Sayu stood up experimentally, glad her adrenaline was still kicked in,

"Yeah." They both rushed out, Beyond Birthday taking charge of destroying any new robots until they finally made it out of the hospital.

"Well, we made it, but I wonder where we are."

"You don't know that? Didn't you live in this city?" Sayu crossed her arms, 

"What? I was in confinement for five years, and a lot's changed since then." She frowned pensively at her new companion, "Also, it's been bothering me for a while, but what you said when we first met… You asked if I was Sayu Yagami. B, why do you know about me?

Beyond Birthday chuckled, "You're suddenly very perceptive! That's unexpected. It's no big deal... When I was looking around, I heard some of Kira's brainwashed minions talking about you, and then I noticed a girl on a parachute, and decided to investigate." He scoffed, "Also, what's with the cops wearing suits? I know what I'm wearing isn't the best," he gestured to his jeans, which were torn up at the ends as though he had stepped on them often, and his clearly faded black shirt, "But at least it's more mobile that a damn suit."

Sayu's brow furrowed as she examined B's clothes, "Do you have any other clothes?"

"Nah, no chances to go to the store since everything was stolen during the riots. But that's just another thing to endure. All I need is to find L—I don't need anything else."

"It's kind of amazing that there are people who feel that strongly." Light, evidently, felt that strongly about justice, just like their Dad did. But she had never found such motivations for herself.

Beyond just hummed in response, "But even so, because of this riot, it's hard to find him all alone. Even though I went to such lengths to get into Japan, following the lead that L was here."

Sayu bit her lip, "So, you've been alone? Who told you that L was here?"

"I have my sources—I have been looking for a decade, and especially hard in the last five years, after all. More importantly, what are you planning to do from here? You still planning on saving your brother?"

The question made her think, now that she had been in action, "My plans… I guess... I have to run and find help—we have very little chance of doing this on our own, and we don't know where the Rebellion could be hidden in Tokyo. But, B...you're going to go continue looking for L, aren't you? I can... understand that, but…" she started crying, looking at her hands, and the gun at her hip, "But I'm scared. I can't help it… Someone like me... no matter what I do, I'll just be killed…"

She looked up and saw Beyond Birthday was doing lookout, but he turned to look at her, to let her know that he was listening. He shrugged, "Unless one of the Kiras intervenes personally, you're not gonna die. Don't worry about that. Of course," his next words were very soft, "Any form of intervening from Kira is changing peoples' lifespans, so who can say?"

"That's not comforting!"

"I'm pretty bad at this." Beyond admitted, and Sayu giggled a little bit despite herself,

"Um...so...I know this is an unreasonable request, but…"

"It's fine."

"Huh?"

"You want to come with me, or have me go with you to find the Rebellion, right? It's fine. Numbers may help me find L anyway."

Sayu instantly brightened, beaming, "Thank you, B!" She lunged and captured him in a hug, which took the older man off guard,

"H-Hey…! What are you doing?!"

"Thank you so so much! I'm forever grateful!" She laughed with glee, knowing she really had a chance to survive and save her brother, "Thank God that I was able to meet you! You're a fantastic person. A normal girl like me is worried...but for you, it's not a big deal." Beyond shoved her off, but he was smiling a bit,

"People don't really hug me. It's been a while."

"How long?"

"Thirteen years, give or take a few months." He was then hugged again,

"Sorry, I'm a little touch-starved, and I think you need a hug." 

"You do remember we met like an hour ago, and I threatened to kill you at the start, right?" She looked up,

"You've also saved my life countless times in the last hour, and you had no need to at all."

"Right..."

She grinned, still holding onto him, and at this point, Beyond was just taking it, no longer caring one way or the other, "Though...I really am happy. I've been alone since I was confined, and didn't have anyone at all that I could depend on…So, I'm thrilled that we're together, B! I'm really extra super happy!"

"I get it. You don't need to say it so many times. More importantly...have you thought about how you'll even find the Rebellion? I don't know much about this city, so I don't know which way we should go."

Sayu broke the hug and started pacing, trying to think like Light since he was always right about these kinds of things. Where would Light think a Rebellion would be hidden... but then she realized that if Light was a prisoner to Kira, who knew what Kira was doing to him, so what if Light's thought process was being used against him to find the Rebellion? 

So, where would Light _not_ think a Rebellion would be hidden?

"The subway, maybe? Hide somewhere obvious enough to be unexpected? I don't know."

Beyond just pulled out his blades, "Well, it's a start. Do you have any idea where the closest subway is?"

"Nope." She pulled out her gun, "Still best that we get looking!"

"Glad to see you're getting the hang of this." He looked up at the sky, "It's getting dark, so we may also need to look for a place to camp out for the night." 

"Right."

As the two began walking in search of the subway, neither of them noticed Halle standing on the rooftop of a nearby building, watching them intently and pulling out her phone to make a call.


	5. Chapter 5

L looked out the window absently, hoping that Sayu had found the Rebellion by now. He was surprised that Light hadn't come talk to him yet since Hoshi had come by saying his Dad was back and less than happy about the situation, and seeing the bandaging on the child's wrist and the marks from clearly fake nails, Misa hadn't been happy either.

He didn't bother to turn when he heard the door open, "Good evening, Lawliet." L was surprised to hear this voice and saw it was Matsuda. Sweet Matsuda, who had been turned into a monster by Kira.

"Good evening, Matsuda-San," he whispered, still not wanting to face the man who may have been his friend a decade ago. Seeing that same appearance, but an air of malicious confidence that had no place on such an innocent face.

Matsuda chuckled, sitting down beside him at the small table, grinning lazily just like he had before, "What's troubling you?" He scoffed, "Is it that you're worried about Sayu? Or is it Nate River, who was captured and awaiting punishment."

L narrowed his eyes to Matsuda, "Kira-Kun wouldn't focus his energy on anything besides finding his sister."

"You mean the same sister I know will be coming back here after a little misunderstanding making her believe that Kira-Sama's trophy is her brother? Even if this isn't the case, I have a plan to ensure she is returned safe and sound."

"Any plan of yours is doomed to fail," L snarked, and Matsuda's expression changed, back to the person he used to be momentarily, but L cringed, knowing that he had given Matsuda warning, so the trigger word would not have the same effect. Even so, this could easily screw him over. He was really losing his touch...

"Well, I was just coming to contemplate how River should be punished. I can't kill him since he keeps you in line, but both of you defied Kira's will, so there will naturally be something," he gave an odd little giggle, "Special for him."

"Why bother telling me this?" L seethed, thinking about that poor boy he hadn't seen in so long. Matsuda's expression became utterly blank, grabbing the chain connected to L's ankle and waving it in L's face to prove a point,

"Because I know you care, and the more hindered your deductive reasoning is, the less likely you will be using Hoshi to make plans anymore."

"I take it I'm forbidden from seeing Hoshi?" He tried to hide the slump in his posture, even more than usual, as that boy was the only hope he had in this hell.

Maybe it would be for the best if he just finished himself off somehow and took Nate with him if he was going to suffer already. Was living in this world even worth it anymore?

Matsuda shrugged, "I'm not the one to make that call. I'll alert you when Sayu has been found, and River was punished."

"Matsuda," he got up, grabbing Matsuda's hand, his eyes pleading more than he ever would have dared a decade ago, " _Please_. This isn't you. Where is that helpful young man who would do anything to do what was right and bring Kira to justice?"

It may be cliché, but with how few times he had talked to Matsuda over the years, he was desperate that maybe it wasn't too late to save the task force.

"He's gone," Matsuda replied, "Someone will be here to deliver you food later." He left, and L heard all five locks click into place.

"Excessive," he grumbled at the locks, "I already can't get this damn cuff off." He frowned when he heard a noise and looked up, seeing Hoshi was grinning down at him...

"Mommy!" 

"Hoshi," he grabbed a chair to get up and bring the boy down, "What are you doing here?"

"Well—I was playing hide and seek with Mr. Mogi, and I was hiding, and I used my secret hiding spot to get around, and I heard Mr. Matsu, so I came here!" He giggled innocently, and L smiled, hugging the blonde child. It was offputting how much he looked like Light and Misa, but seemed to only possess the positive traits of both. It reminded L of Light without his memories.

"Hoshi, I'm glad to see you, but you should get out of here before you get in trouble, or your secret spot is revealed."

"But I want to stay with you, Mommy. Dad's mad, Mother's being mean, and Matsu's scary." L softened, 

"Fine. I need some distraction anyway." He got an idea, "Hoshi, do you know where the key is to this," L lifted his ankle to show the cuff keeping him in here. Hoshi shook his head, and L pouted a little, before deciding that using Hoshi for his own gain again would be selfish and cruel after what the poor thing had gone through last time.

But... Hoshi did have a strong sense of justice, so maybe he could talk to his Dad?

"Hoshi, do you remember my friend Nate?" Hoshi nodded, "Your Dad has him locked up somewhere and plans to hurt him. Could you please talk to your Dad and convince him not to? I know he has a soft spot for you."

"Okay, Mommy." He looked at the floor, "Mommy, why does Dad hurt people?"

 _Because he's batshit insane,_ L almost said, but then remedied with, "He thinks he's doing what's right but doesn't understand that hurting people only makes things worse in the long run. It doesn't help that your mother is stupid and made things worse even faster. No one man can change the world, Hoshi, no matter how gifted they are."

"I'll try talking to Dad!" L helped Hoshi back into the vent, and the child waved, "Bye, Mommy! Can I come back for a story tonight?"

L smiled, "Of course you can. Now run along before you get caught." 

Hoshi closed the vent, and L flopped onto the bed, feeling his senses starting to disconnect from reality again. Whether this was caused by trauma or was a side effect of being resurrected after five years, he didn't know, but he let himself remain in the state with his only tie to the world around him being the hope that Hoshi would be able to save Nate.

OoOoO

Sayu and Beyond looked for either a place to camp for the night or the subway path. She had to look away from everything which was stained red, and she wasn't sure if the rain or a power washer would wipe it all away, or this would be how Tokyo was forever.

However, thankfully, they found the subway reasonably quickly as the sun was just beginning to set, but much to their dismay, the shutter was closed and locked.

"We can't get in like this!" Sayu shrieked, and Beyond crossed his arms, pulling out his scissors,

"Quiet down...if the shutter is closed, that means someone closed it, right? If that's the case...then there might be a clue somewhere around here if we look."

"...A clue?"

"Like somebody who would have the key." He replied, looking around through the bodies, with a worried expression. Sayu frowned,

"B, what's wrong?"

"This isn't right." Beyond replied, "Kira's attacks are changing people's lifespans. L... he's supposed to have another fifty years left, but what if Kira did something, and it's all wrong now?" He shook himself, "Still, that doesn't mean that _we_ have a higher chance of killing people."

Sayu thought about the implications of B always knowing when someone was going to die. She shuddered, unsure if she would be able to handle it. "Hey, wouldn't being as unsure as everyone else be a good thing? No extra burden on your shoulders."

He shrugged, "If you had asked me a decade ago, I would have agreed. But I've learned to take comfort in it, and it's... unsettling, to not know." He looked through the bodies around, and Sayu recoiled when she saw the horribly mutilated body of the person Beyond was scrounging through the clothes of.

"Did the robots get this person too?" Sayu whimpered, wincing at her injury as she bent down. Beyond scoffed,

"The robots may have done the act, but it was those psycho followers making them kill..." he gagged, "I may be a serial killer who did some pretty nasty stuff to my victims, but this," he gestured to it, "Is in such bad taste, befitting of fiction. Aha!" He triumphantly held up a wallet and a key, "Yahtzee!"

Sayu took the key, cleaning it off with her shirt, "Could this be the key for…? Wah!" She jolted as someone ran into her, and she instantly realized the issue, "Th-This is bad, B!"

"What is it?"

"The key was stolen!" She started running, "We have to chase that guy! If we don't have that key, we can't get into the subway!"

"I got this." Beyond suddenly moved faster than a bullet, throwing his scissors with expert precision, and the man fell to the ground, dropping a controller too.

"Nice!" 

Beyond sneered down at this man before knocking him unconscious with a kick to the jaw and Sayu heard a sickening crack. He sighed, holding the controller, "As handy as this would be, having a robot on our side, it would also mean we would be considered the enemy by the Rebellion, and it probably has a tracker." He threw the controller to the ground, smashing it...

Only for the unnoticed until now chip on the man's neck to explode, sending the man's head launching in another direction. Beyond jumped back, eyes wide,

"Those controllers... how is that possible... that man was supposed to have five years left!" He tore at his hair, "That was just an explosion, how did it affect the lifespan?! Are the chips connected the nervous system made by an ally of Kira so any person whose controller is destroyed will be killed before being tortured for information?"

"Light..." Sayu exhaled, "What if he has a chip like that?!" 

"Calm down," Beyond said mostly to himself, "Maybe it's just brainwashing?"

"That's not better! The task force is brainwashed!"

"Shit. Right. Okay, maybe those close to Kira don't have it?" He looked at the now headless body and how he was covered in blood, "Note to self, don't break the controllers. Got it." He was still shaking and looked to Sayu, "You okay?"

"Y-Yeah," she forced out, trembling even more than he was and tears falling down her face, "L-Let's—Let's go. We need to get out of here and find help or a way to disable the—those things!"

"Right." Beyond opened the shutter down to the subway, gesturing for her to head down, "You have the robot-killing gun, so after you."

Sayu looked down at the eerily dark stairwell, and Beyond Birthday grabbed her hand,

"On second thought, I can see in the dark. Come on." She obediently followed him, hoping for either the Rebellion or a way out of Tokyo to get help from outside.

"Hey, I see something up ahead!" She whisper-shouted, and Beyond nodded,

"Yeah, here's hoping it's something good."

It wasn't.


	6. Chapter 6

The room was dimly lit in an eerie way, and it was most certainly not a subway, as though a whole different room was blocking off the entrance to any semblance of a hope to escape, and there was an area above where it seemed someone could stand.

"What's this?" Sayu asked as she looked around, wincing at the pain in her side as she did so.

"The subway's been cut off," she looked up with a small gasp and saw Aizawa standing above on the platform, "For obvious reasons."

Beyond Birthday frowned a bit, "Shuichi Aizawa, right? So who're ya working for?" But Sayu was shaking as she remembered what Yumi said, and even from this distance, there was something different in the officer's eyes.

"Aizawa, what's going on?! Why aren't you with your family?"

"My family?" Aizawa blinked a few times as though confused, saying those words so softly that the echo of this room was the only reason she could hear it, before jumping down to the ground in a perfect landing. Sayu was finally able to pinpoint the pain in those eyes. Was he actually brainwashed? Was he doing this to protect his kids? "I was sent to bring you to safety." 

Sayu recoiled away from the extended hand, backing away closer to B, "I don't think that's a good idea." She got an idea, "Light! Can you tell me if he's okay?"

"I haven't spoken to him in a while," Aizawa answered, "But last I heard, he was fine." He grabbed Sayu's wrist, "I can take you to see him if you go now."

B removed Aizawa's hand forcefully from Sayu, "You know, that doesn't sound like a good idea. How do we know you won't just kill her the second I'm out of earshot?"

"I promise you no harm will come to her when she's with me," Aizawa replied, "That isn't what anyone wants."

"And why would Kira care?" B questioned, earning a glare from Aizawa that had Sayu backing away. She wished Yumi was here because she might be able to reason with her father.

"It wasn't my place to question his orders. Sayu, we have to go!" He reached to grab her again, but Beyond forced himself between them and grabbed Aizawa before shoving him back into a wall.

What happened next was something Sayu would have never expected.

Aizawa slowly slid down the wall, landing on his knees and shaking with his head bowed, "Don't... Don't you get it?" He seethed, "I have to. I have to do this... bring justice and protect innocent people...and then...no one will be afraid, and we can be at peace…Without things like this irrational violence...n-no one will be afraid, and we can finally be at peace!" That anger was slowly turning into something else the more he talked. B watched with his head cocked to the side and a thumb to his lips as though trying to process what was happening in front of him.

Sayu bent down a safe distance away from Aizawa. Surely he wasn't beyond saving if this was his motivation. But wouldn't someone working for Kira be coldhearted and merciless? Something didn't add up, because, from the distant memories she had of the officer who had worked with her brother and father, he was not the type to break down like this in front of someone.

Then she remembered that kindhearted boy, Hoshi. Kira's son, who didn't seem at all monstrous, unlike what she knew of his father. Were people working for Kira just misguided and trapped in a cult, like those her father would tell her about?

"W-Won't...be afraid…" Aizawa started whispering to himself, quickly gaining volume as his breathing quickened, "W-We won't...be afraid... There won't be anything…Pain and darkness and yelling and—and—there won't be...anything scary…Now matter how much I'm hit, even if I'm hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit...I won't...be scared…N-Nothing..."

At this point, he was practically screaming, and Sayu had no idea what was going on. She looked to Beyond for an answer, and she noticed his expression was changed to a haunted look, "B? What is it?"

"This isn't an act." He slowly walked over to Aizawa, palms out to show he meant no harm, "Hey, are you hurt? There's nothing to be afraid of." He slowly got closer, only for his hand to get pushed back,

"Don't touch me!" He stood up as though snapping out of that breakdown, "Sayu, please, let's go. Don't you want to see Light?"

"Of course I do..." she then took a step back, remembering her mission. If all she wanted was to see Light, she would have just gone there with Hoshi. Her goal was to find the Rebellion and then rescue Light and all the people Kira had hurt, "But not yet. I still have to find... Mom," her eyes widened as she truly realized how genuine that fear was.

Beyond Birthday paused at Sayu's words, before noticing something, "Your arm?" Aizawa didn't fall for that and managed to block the attack that was coming, only for him to actually see the trembling from his arm, and a look of panic crossed his face, and Beyond took that moment of shock to pin him against the wall, "Listen up. L Lawliet, where is he?!"

Sayu tried to intervene, "B, stop!"

"Get off me!" Aizawa roared, shoving B with enough force that he was stunned and fell to the ground, and he now had a controller in his hand, "You're not going to touch _me_ or _anyone else_." He pressed the button on his controller, and a giant robot revealed itself from underneath the stand. Aizawa revealed he had somehow gotten his hands on a couple of B's weapons, tossing one with impressive precision directly at B, who was just barely able to roll away from what should have been a killing blow.

Sayu stood frozen at what had just happened, "A-Aizawa, what are you doing?!"

"I was asked to leave you alive," Aizawa replied, "But your companion should be killed, and if I have to bring you by force... I don't want to, but I will."

"A little help would be great!" B shouted as he tried to fight the robot, which was a couple times his size. Sayu then remembered the hacking gun and had to dodge an attack. She yelped in pain as her side acted up again, falling to the ground and barely managing to shoot the robot's eye, which gave B the chance to start going for more vital parts of the machine while Sayu kept Aizawa back.

"No more...please...no more...We won't do anything to you…" She pleaded with her eyes, "Come on, this isn't right! Kira is wrong, Aizawa, you fought against him for years!" 

"And I was mistaken then," was the simple response, and Sayu fought back the tears in her eyes, firing more electromagnetic waves from her gun at the robot to help B, scooting back.

Suddenly, Aizawa paused, taking a couple steps back, losing all of his fire and anger, instead dread seeping in. He looked down at his shaking hands again, "What am I doing?" He whispered, but Sayu had no time to respond before a piece of rogue metal went flying and hit Aizawa directly in the head, sending him crumpling into a heap.

Beyond Birthday emerged from the pile of scrap metal that was once the robot, "Thanks for the help using that gun," he cracked his knuckles, picking up his scissors from the ground, and he looked down at Aizawa's unconscious form, before checking him over and the back of his neck. "Huh."

"What do you mean, 'huh'?" She got up, still shaking a bit from what had just happened and crawling over to see what he was looking at, "He doesn't have a chip."

"Nope," B sighed, "And suddenly that breakdown makes a lot more sense if he was brainwashed the old fashion way."

"Old... fashion way?" 

"Don't ask things you don't want to know the answer to." B replied, grimacing, "I can't help but pity him." He slowly began to unbutton Aizawa's shirt, revealing scars all over his chest and arms. Most of the marks were old. Sayu didn't know how to check how old scars were, but thankfully it seemed B did, "Oh Kira's a sick bastard taking advantage of something like this." He rebuttoned up the shirt, looking up to Sayu, "What do you suggest we do? If I leave him be, he'll go back to Kira, and lord knows what Kira does to those who fail him. If we take him with us, we might screw over the Rebellion. Then again, you mentioned he has a family, right?"

"Yeah. Two kids and neither have seen him in five years."

"We might be able to work with that." B tore at his hair, and Sayu frowned,

"B, what's wrong!? Are you hurt anywhere?"

"I couldn't learn anything..." B growled, "L's whereabouts...or about that one."

"'That one'?" Sayu asked, before deciding to shrug it off, "Maybe we can get something out of him when he wakes up," she offered, and B sighed,

"A-At this rate I'm allowing Lawliet...to be in pain and agony from that psycho's torture…. I'm letting them...hurt him…"

"I-It...certainly seems bad…" Sayu admitted, hugging herself, "But...what do we do from here? In the end, the subway was a trap...Now we don't have anywhere to go or any idea how to find the Rebellion." 

Beyond looked down at Aizawa, "Step one is to find somewhere to sleep for the night, and get something to keep him either tied up or unconscious. I'm pretty good at that kind of thing, and while his lifespan allows that blow to not have just killed him, I'd rather not risk smacking him upside the head with sheet metal every time he wakes up, both for physical and mental health purposes." He dug into Sayu's bag and pulled out a slightly bloodstained bedsheet, "Help me carry him. We're taking him, right?"

Sayu nodded, "We're taking him."

OoOoO

Hoshi stood outside his Dad's office, psyching himself up. Sure his Dad was really upset right now, but Mommy needed Nate to be safe, so he had to be brave and risk it... he looked down at this arm. This wasn't Mother. 

He knocked on the door, "Come in." Hoshi walked inside and saw his Dad looked miserable with dark bags under his eyes, and his cane was leaning on the desk, meaning that he was having one of his bad days again. "Ah, Hoshi. What is it?"

"What are you doing?" Hoshi asked, walking over and sitting in his Dad's lap once invited, sighing in dismay when he saw all the names written down.

"I'm judging more criminals. Even with your Mother's idiocy, my work is never done."

"Are you going to kill Mother?" Hoshi asked bluntly, and his Dad blinked before smirking a little bit,

"Would you be sad if that happened?"

"No... but hurting people is still wrong, right?" 

His Dad smiled fondly, pushing the notebook to the side and looking down at his son, identical eyes meeting each other, "You know, I'm sure your Aunt Sayu would say the same thing. Your Mother doesn't seem to understand that, but you are right. I only harm people who hurt others."

Okay, this was something he could work with. But he had to ease into asking about pardoning Nate, or Dad would realize Mommy put him up to it, "What's Aunt Sayu like?"

Hoshi noticed the faraway look and the fond smile on his Dad's face as though recalling a better, happier time, "Your aunt is the kindest person I have ever met and the embodiment of what I want in this world I'm working to create. You remind me a lot of her, and I'm sure you two will get along."

"She thought you were Mommy when I talked to her." He blinked up at his Dad, "Will she be mad when she finds out you're Kira?"

A pause filled the room, before his Dad sighed, "Before your Mother's foolish choice, I am sure she wouldn't have been happy but would have come around. Now though... I don't know. I honestly don't know, Hoshi." He cleared his throat, "But the most important thing is that she's safe. So what did you want to talk to me about, because I am sure it wasn't just about your aunt."

Before Hoshi could say anything, the door opened, and Ide stormed in, "I've lost contact with Aizawa."

"What?" He noticed the exact moment his Dad went into "Kira mode" and helped Hoshi off his lap and walked over to Ide, leaning heavily on his cane as he did so, "Are you sure it wasn't just a technological error?"

"Seeing as the last thing I heard was shouting, I would say that no, this wasn't an error. I believe the Rebellion got ahold of him." 

"Damnit," his Dad cursed, "Talk to Matsuda. He was in charge of deploying the task force while I got caught up on my work and thought about handling Misa."

"Matsuda was in charge?" Ide said with slight fear in his voice, and Hoshi frowned. Sure, Matsu was a little soft-spoken in a slightly creepy way, but he didn't seem to be the type to spark so much fear in someone. Of course, Hoshi also knew he was a child and technically the heir to Kira's position even if he wanted nothing to do with it, so he had power over Matsuda. Perhaps that was why he hadn't seen this dark side that everyone else seemed to be aware of.

Clearly, now was not the right time to talk about Nate to his Dad. But Mommy made it sound like Nate was running out of time. Hoshi nervously looked at his wrist before remembering something Mommy had told him when he was younger,

_"Sometimes, you have to do what's right and damn the consequences."_

He knew what he had to do.


	7. Chapter 7

Between her and Beyond, carrying Aizawa was easier than expected. That being said, she was still dealing with muscle atrophy from being confined for years with not much to do, so she knew full well that Beyond was actually supporting a lot more of the weight.

It eventually reached a point where he decided to just carry Aizawa himself, and he used the bed sheet to tie the unconscious man to his back to help support him while Sayu had her megaphone gun at the ready.

They made it up the stairs of the subway station, but to Sayu's horror, there were way more robots and Kira supporters in the area than there were before. It was probably because Aizawa had been here to bring Sayu back to Kira's headquarters, so they were here if things went south like they had.

"There are way too many," Sayu's eyes widened as she hid a bit, and B was clearly uncomfortable,

"There really are. Going out this way would be dangerous…"

"Then...what do you think we should do?" They both hastily headed back down the stairs, getting past that artificial wall by blasting it with the knockback feature of Sayu's gun, revealing the shops.

"Stop asking that so much," Beyond snapped, bouncing Aizawa a bit to support his weight, "I'm not some mechanized tour guide."

"S-Sorry," Sayu chuckled a little, "Since I started relying on you, it was a reflex…"

Beyond was silent for a moment, smiling a bit as though he was happy but surprised, "Started...relying on me…?" He cleared his throat, "Well... I certainly do have more functioning brain tissue than you…Hmm...for now, maybe we should stay underground and look for a different exit."

"You know," Sayu considered, "I know that you've done some questionable things, but I find myself looking up to you, B! We're both trying to find someone we love, and you're so strong."

B's face lit up, before he grew sad, seeing more of the corpses around them, "I just hope that's enough. Kid, I'm at my limit too. I just want Lawliet back."

"You really love him, don't you?"

"Yeah, more than anything." Beyond started walking, "Come on, this way."

Sayu followed, "Can you tell me a bit about him? How'd you two meet?"

"He had a room in the orphanage that was always locked that nobody was allowed to go into. He was often traveling. One day I saw a boy I didn't know, and I knew who he was immediately, so I followed him, and we ended up talking all night." He chuckled a bit, "He didn't know what a hug was."

"That's awful." She hugged herself, "No hugs?"

"His parents were pretty awful," Beyond replied, "He also loves sweets, and whenever I visited him, I always brought him some cake." He tensed, "Sayu, do not look anywhere, but forward right now."

Despite herself, Sayu turned a bit, seeing a horribly mutilated corpse crucified into the wall in an image of Jesus Christ, and it was so much more horrific than she had ever imagined, especially as she noticed the very creative mutilation.

B slowly pulled her away as she whimpered, "Hey, how about you tell me about your brother to distract yourself?"

Sayu brightened, gleefully telling B everything about Light, until they were torn from their conversation by the sound of a loud scream, and they both ran to one of the entrances, and saw at least three robots attacking a crying and terrified child.

She shot all the robots, and they deactivated, and she helped the child up, "Hey, kid, are you alright?"

"Phew!" The little boy, probably around ten at most, sat up, and Sayu was horrified to see this kid had a bandage over part of his face, covering his left eye, "I thought I was going to die. Thank you!" He got up, his entire frame shaking more than his voice had let on. Sayu helped him and let him lean on her,

"What's your name?" She asked, "I'm Sayu, and that's B," she gestured to B.

The boy looked up, "I'm Nozomu!"

Sayu was taken aback, remembering the little boy from years ago, "Nozomu?"

Nozomu limped a bit, and then he saw Aizawa, who was still out cold on B's back, "Daddy?"

"This is your Dad?" B asked, and Nozomu was clearly overjoyed,

"Daddy! You found Daddy!"

Sayu then came to the sinking realization that Nozomu probably hadn't seen his father in five years. "Yeah. We want to help your Dad because Kira hurt him a lot."

Nozomu nodded, then his brow furrowed, "By the way...what are you two doing in a place like this? That's no good! You shouldn't wander around such a dangerous place!"

"And yet you're here," B replied, and Nozomu shrugged,

"I wanted to help Yumi. She doesn't let me out of headquarters since the riots began, but I want to fight too! I'll take you two to a safe place!"

"Hey, where is this safe place?" Sayu asked, and Nozomu grinned, wincing a bit in pain, and she could already tell he was trying to stay strong even though he was exhausted and hurt. He needed medical attention. Thankfully, the cuts on him weren't very deep.

"A little way further in the underground," Nozomu explained, "The Rebellion has a secret base where we've been living in hiding."

Sayu beamed, "Secret base!? B! They have a secret base! There'll be other people there! If that's true, we should all meet up! How about it!? How about it!?"

B shrugged, "Going aboveground by these stairs is dangerous. The area around the exit is crawling with robots. But..." he gestured to Aizawa, "Is it safe to bring him?"

"Yeah!" Nozomu nodded eagerly, "As long as there's no tracker. Can I check?" B shrugged and untied Aizawa and put him on the ground, letting the child walk over to his father, turning Aizawa's head to the side and looking at the back of his ear, "Oh dear."

B bent down, "Huh. I didn't think to look there."

"What?" Sayu looked, and her eyes widened when she saw a small mark and a faded scar on the back of Aizawa's ear, where a tracker probably was. That didn't bode well. "Can we get it out?"

"Mhm," Nozomu nodded, "We managed to do it with someone else, but..." he hesitated, "We have to cut that part of his ear off."

"Alright, on it." B pulled out a cloth and gagged Aizawa, and pulled out some of his scissors, heating them up with a match and waiting for them to cool as they got all of them into a janitor's closet.

Sayu was shaking, "Are we really going to do this?"

"Yes," Beyond replied, "Shield the kid while I work. I can get the tracker out." He got to work, and Sayu looked away, shielding Nozomu from seeing what was going on. She could hear noises of distress from Aizawa, and she wondered if he would wake up from this.

After a couple minutes, B put bandages over Aizawa's bleeding ear and taped it, nudging away the severed ear, and the stench of blood was nauseating.

Nozomu was clearly uncomfortable, "We should hurry." he said, limping down the hall until Sayu picked him up in a piggyback ride,

"Your leg is hurt—point to where we have to go,"

Nozomu pouted, "I'm fine," but he looked up at her expression, and he sighed, "Fine."

He gave directions until they came upon a door that was locked, and Nozomu jumped and then crawled into a vent, before unlocking the door they needed to go through, having gone through the vents, his dark hair lightened with the dust.

"There, it's unlocked!"

"Wow!" Sayu examined the vent, which Nozomu was closing again, "That's really clever."

"Thanks!" They hurried after shutting and locking the door, and Nozomu revealed a hole in the ground with a ladder into the sewer. "Phew...let's take a little break here. I don't need breaks, but I don't want you to be tired." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "The truth is...I happened to see you two go underground, went ahead, and waited for you… But I did it to save you two! I noticed that your situation wasn't too good, and thought that I should save you…"

"That's so sweet," she bent down to him, "But...why did you think to save us?"

"I don't need a reason to save people." Nozomu replied, "I do it because I want to. Dad did that too before Kira hurt him." He pointed down to the hole, "Here if we go down here, we'll get to the sewers. The secret base is in the sewers. ...Ah! But keep that a secret from the robots!"

"That's...not how you keep a secret." Beyond pointed out, but they all went down and saw the sewer water, and Sayu cringed at the stench,

"What do we do…? Is there no way to cross to the other side?"

"Don't you say we should swim it..." B cringed, "Such dirty water...is sure to be full of germs."

"Don't worry! Leave it to me! Wait, just a moment," He ran off to the side and revealed a metal sheet, which he moved over as a bridge, "Come on over!" 

Sayu looked down at the sewer water as she walked over the makeshift bridge, and then Nozomu pulled the bridge to the other side and hid it under a blanket, "Thanks, Nozomu!"

"Ehehehe!" He grabbed Sayu's hand and pulled her along, "Come on! Come on! Come on!" They all made it to a round room, and there was a ladder headed up, "We've arrived. It's here at the top of this ladder in a secret place under the city! Here come with me."

Beyond went up the ladder first, and Sayu followed, her muscles shaking as she tried to hoist herself up, her body ready to give out, exhausted and trying her best to get up.

"Look, it's in here. Come in, come in!" Nozomu helped Beyond up, and then Sayu. She got to see the Rebellion at last, eyes wide and hope finally blossoming in her chest.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was asked to have more Light screen time (or whatever you call that in a fic), so here you go!

It wasn't as hard as one would expect to sneak past Mogi. It wasn't that the former officer wasn't intelligent, but Hoshi had the edge of his brains and Mommy having told him about all the secret passages built into this building for purposes like this. Hence, he could bounce around with no way of being tracked unless by those who knew. It was risky because Dad did know about these, so the vents were typically safer, but since he had to actually look around and find Nate instead of getting from Point A to Point B, he had to use the passages.

He winced at the pain in his arm as he tried to move a bookcase in the library, so it slid to reveal a door behind it, and he shut the doors before racing down the hidden stairs as he heard footsteps, until he heard a familiar melody—Mommy's lullaby.

He found himself in what he assumed was the basement, and he realized with growing dread that he could not see any other entrance to this place than the one he had come down. Upon seeing there were no cameras around here, he hurried to the door, too short to see from the small window at the top of the door, so he pulled his lockpick out of his pocket and got to work.

"Nate, can you hear me?" He called in a whisper-yell, "I'm gonna get you out of here!"

He didn't get a response besides a continuing of the humming, and he got the door open... only to find nobody matching Nate's description was in there, rather a recording playing on loop. He heard a voice behind him that brought a look of pure dread to his face,

"I knew you would try this," he turned and saw Dad standing at the foot of the stairs, leaning somewhat on his cane, and a feline smirk on his face as he looked at the son he had bested, "You really are L's boy."

"D-Dad..." Hoshi backed up a bit, having never seen such a smug predatory expression directed at him before. He knew his father's reputation but had always seen a loving Dad before now, who protected him from Mother. The man before him right now wasn't his Dad... this was the real Kira, not the version that he had seen, which he realized now was very muted.

He knew Dad would never hurt him, but Kira he couldn't be so sure. That dangerous look in his eyes sent shivers up his spine, and it was as though his eyes flickered red for a moment in the dim lighting, which made this all the more terrifying.

Dad chuckled menacingly, "Come on, please be at ease. Don't worry. It's just us. No one else is here. You don't have to pretend to be my obedient son, who doesn't know anything." He rested his cane against the wall, revealing he could stand just fine, "Right now, it's just Kira and his heir who works with the enemy. Would you say that means we are rivals now, my boy?"

Hoshi trembled mercilessly, on the brink of tears, and he noticed Dad soften, but he remained standing tall, not bending down to Hoshi's level like he normally would when his son was afraid,

"But please don't misunderstand. I love you, Hoshi. I adore you truly. And that's why I'm here. I want you to give up."

He forced himself to meet his father's eyes, "G-Give up?"

"Give up resisting. Because I love you, I don't want you to suffer, even if you did directly disobey me. I gave you a pass with Sayu since lack of information made you believe something false, but Nate River, you know full well, is my prisoner for a reason. I thought I told you to get all the facts before making judgment you believe to be righteous."

"Believe to be?" He tried to hold his own intimidating air, knowing it was nothing but a shadow, but at least Dad recognized what he was attempting to do, but it only achieved that smirk on his face again.

"It's a happy life you have, isn't it? A warm home filled with love, safety, and delicious food. Without knowing the hunger, coldness, or the agonizing pain that makes someone crave death and lose their sense of self as your parents did to bring you this life." He had his back to Hoshi now, but turned his head back slightly, "Hoshi, you don't know anything because I wanted to make sure you could be my son before you were my heir."

 _What? What does this have to do with Nate? What is Dad talking about?_ "A happy life?" He glared, "Is the happiness you speak of similar to what Mommy goes through every day?"

Dad scoffed, "If he were to so choose, L could be just as happy as you or I, and I would bear no ill will to the torments I underwent at the hand of him and his," he laughed a bit, _"Pathetic_ successors. But alas, he's so determined to cling to that old life he will never have back. He really is just like me—childish and hates losing."

"Mommy said you brought him back."

"Yes, because just letting him know what he wanted to all along is not nearly enough of a victory. Besides, it's not like I would ever let Nate River take care of you, and you needed a caretaker. Who better than the final remnant of a once-great orphanage?"

"But, he's right!" Hoshi pleaded, "We don't need any fake smiles as our people are slaughtered outside for Mother's mistake! We should decide for ourselves what happiness is! Not just listen to you!"

"Well, I am the Emperor," Dad replied, "So yes, the people of Japan have to listen to me, and as the world has bowed to Kira, I am God of the World." He started walking upstairs, grabbing his cane, "Your Mother will be executed publically tomorrow evening. Shall I do hanging? Decapitation? Drawn and quartered? I've been waiting ten years, but out of the goodness of my heart, I'll let you decide, my boy." He gave an odd little giggle, "It's impossible to escape. It's dangerous outside, too. Do you really think Nate River will be able to survive out there when my men will be searching for him around the clock? Let's all live together happily inside our home, and don't try to defy me on the word of L."

Hoshi was stunned into silence, hearing that his own mother was going to be publically executed, "Does—Does Mother know?"

"No. Misa still thinks I tolerate her meager existence. And I already talked to the Shinigami King about ensuring no Shinigami is going to be saving her. It will be our little secret, stardust. Come upstairs, this place is depressing."

Hesitantly, Hoshi followed upstairs, knowing he would have to take his search for Nate somewhere else. But for now, maybe he could ask questions if they weren't keeping up appearances right now.

"What did Mommy and Nate do to make you so mad?"

As they entered the master bedroom, Dad pulled up his sleeves, revealing scars on his wrists which seemed to be from something wrapped around them, "L locked me away in a Death Row cell for fifty-three days when I had no memory of being Kira. I begged and pleaded, and when he finally let me go, it was only after using my own father against me. How would you feel if I told you that I valued justice over my family, and I was going to kill you here and now for releasing Nate?"

Just the thought brought tears to his eyes, "Are—Are you gonna?" He was pulled into a tight hug,

"No, Hoshi, I would never hurt you. You're so precious to me. I'm doing all of this for you to make sure you never have to suffer like I did. If I stop now, history will look upon Kira as evil, which will ruin your life and any children you may one day have."

"Okay," he pulled away from the hug, "What Mommy did was... bad. But you'd forgive him, so what did Nate do?"

Dad got up and pulled out a piece of paper from his desk, not letting Hoshi touch it for some reason, but letting him examine it from afar.

On the sheet of notebook paper lay the following: _Light Yaga._ However, the name wasn't finished, and instead, the pen went down the sheet as though something threw the writer off, and then the ink was incredibly smudged.

Hoshi instantly realized what this meant, "He tried to kill you."

"Yes. I was already down from a gunshot wound. Did he really need to try and taint my victory with this? At least L accepted it when he lost the first time. Nate wasn't a challenge to beat, but with the help of his fellow successor, Mello, it was a nuisance." He got up and put the paper away, "If it weren't for Mello, my father wouldn't have died, Sayu wouldn't have needed to be confined for so long for her safety, and I could have killed Misa in childbirth and never needed to bring L back." He sneered, "Damn Mello, even from beyond the grave, he's a problem."

"Dad?" Hoshi asked hesitantly, "What happened the day you won? How did you do it?"

Dad smiled sweetly, much more like normal Dad and not like the dangerous man who had been before him moments ago, "You're too young to know the details. Just know Mikami redeemed himself in the end because he made a mistake that would have cost us the victory if he hadn't realized it. It was sloppy, but looking at how things went afterward, I'd say this is better than I had expected."

"You scared me," Hoshi whispered, "You were so scary," he let himself cry, unsure of what to feel anymore. Mommy told him that Nate was good but in danger, and Dad showed him that Nate tried to kill him, and Mommy badly hurt him. He knew a lot of people thought Dad wasn't a good person, but to kill him?

Did... Did this mean Mommy had just been using him? He didn't want to think like that about the one who loved him and gave him the motherly love he lacked in life, but what if it was true? What did he do then? He didn't like what Dad was doing, but if Mother was going to be executed tomorrow, didn't that mean this would all be over soon once Aunt Sayu was safe?

Dad cradled him gently, just like when he was a baby, a loving smile on his face, "I'm sorry I frightened you. Here," he placed Hoshi down on his own massive bed that he typically ended up sharing with Mother, "How about you sleep with me tonight. It's not like your mother will be here to take that spot."

_This is wrong! This is wrong! Are normal parents so happy about killing each other?! No... Dad's wanted this for a long time, it's obvious. What do I not know? What's Dad's endgame?_

_Does he really just want the best for me? If he does... would I be a bad son to go against him? I can't blame him for wanting to protect me from Nate if he sees him as dangerous, but why would he then keep Mommy around if he could rebel? Surely he could just use Mogi longterm, right?_

_Dad loves me, so can I change him? Or am I the crazy one? Am I the one in the wrong? He's right that I don't know everything, and I'm only four, so I probably shouldn't, but how am I supposed to show my beliefs on right and wrong if I don't know anything?_

"Sleep, stardust. We'll discuss more in the morning. It's late, and you're tired," as though proving Dad's point, Hoshi felt his body betray him, and a yawn came out. "Tomorrow night is the beginning of our new lives. Rest assured, Hoshi, this awful violence will end soon."

Despite himself, Hoshi felt his body giving in to tire now that the danger was seemingly gone. But as he closed his eyes, he couldn't get that terrifying look out of his mind, so different from the loving parent before him now, and the implications that the Dad he saw now was a mask to hide a vindictive God.

Unsure of what was right and wrong, Hoshi drifted to sleep.

...

Light smirked as he saw Hoshi's breathing even out, absently running his hand through Hoshi's darkening hair, progressively losing its golden color and becoming more strawberry blonde, which was a relief since that meant he was losing one of his mother's main traits. He knew full well that the boy didn't know about the passages in this room, as he had had them personally altered from different ones around the building, so L didn't know either. One lock was all it would take to keep the boy contained.

As phenomenal of an actor he was, he felt as though that performance had been subpar, trying to hide his fury for the situation at hand. All he had was his father's gentle words of advice to him all those years ago when he had been forced by Misa to propose.

_"One day, Light, you may desire to start a family. I want to guide you every step of the way, but should I not live past this case, I want you to promise me you will not make the same mistakes I did with you. Showing a child that you love him is more than just saying it. You have to be there for him, not gone all hours and drowning yourself in work. Remind him that he is important and cherished, and make sure he doesn't feel alone."_

It had been risky from the beginning, to bring L back, and maybe it was cruel to have him be in charge of the physical proof of Light's victory. Well... that wasn't exactly true, seeing as apparently, Misa had either been really far along in the pregnancy, and it was hidden, or Hoshi was born prematurely. It was hard to tell since while he had been very small, he was healthy, delivered the first day of spring while Light was still recovering.

He left the room and softly shut and locked the door, turning to Mogi, "If he escapes that room, it's your ass on the line." One thing he had learned very quickly upon working with the task force was that Mogi had grown to care a great deal about Misa, and this hadn't changed once the brainwashing kicked in. Therefore, Mogi may be an excellent fighter, but his protectiveness over Hoshi, Misa's son, made him an even better bodyguard. Unfortunately, in this instance, Hoshi had inherited his father's brains.

That was going to make things hard when he inevitably killed Misa. However, he had enough faith in the brainwashing to know that even if he was no longer a fighter for Light, he would still dutifully defend Hoshi. And if he became too much of a bother, he could be easily killed. He still had L to be a caretaker.

Speaking of which...

He wanted to talk to L, but decided against it for the night, knowing that he was probably expecting Hoshi back tonight, so giving him a small panic attack as retaliation for trying to turn his son against him wouldn't hurt.

He went back down the hidden passage Hoshi had gone down and actually entered the room, past the still-playing recording, and into the actual cell just off to the left, where Near was tied up. Near was bound just like Misa all those years ago, blindfolded and in a straitjacket, legs bare and shivering, except unlike Misa, he had a ball-gag in his mouth. Normally he also had soundproof headphones to ruin that sense too, but he had wanted Nate to hear someone coming to save him and being pulled away at the last second.

He removed the blindfold and turned on the bright overhead lights, damaging his eyesight further, and he knew the albino boy was sensitive to bright lights. This would be the first time they actually talked since Light's victory all those years ago.

Near whimpered a bit, squinting, but upon getting a look at who was before him, any sign of weakness vanished, and he had the same haughty air as long ago, "Well then, I'm surprised to see you having come to talk to me personally, Kira."

"And I'm surprised five years in confinement taught you absolutely nothing."

"I was comfortable," Near replied simply, leaning back a bit to support his neck, "The kid was your son? You're sick, you know that, right? Using your own child."

"Actually," Light defended softly, "L's been the one using him. I would much rather that my son just stay out of this and grow up happy. You can't paint me as the villain this time."

"And yet, I'm the one whose been in a straitjacket for a while now."

Light relaxed, "Naturally, I will have to make sure both you and L pay for disobeying me, but I'm in a good mood today," he looked at his nails, "I managed to create a silver lining in this whole situation. So I'll give you a chance to spare yourself the many horrors I have in store for you if you tell me the truth of how to disable that hacking gun you built."

"And why would you want to know that? So you can destroy Sayu's defense so she'll come running back to you?"

"Close, but not quite." He tauntingly extended a hand that Near couldn't reach, "You're smart, so are you going to make the right choice?" Near scoffed,

"Have you learned nothing from when I stood against you the first time? I will never submit to you."

Light shrugged, "I would have hoped L being revived would change your tune, but I suppose you'll never forgive _me_ for what _Mello_ did that was just as much of a burden to me as it was to you."

Mention of Mello caused a shift in Near, clear distress becoming apparently in his features, and Light knew he was going somewhere, "You don't care to serve me because you think I'll just kill you and you can see Mello again, correct? And maybe five years ago, I would have, but..."

"But what?"

"I am the God of this world," Light replied, turning to leave, "And I have to means to show you there is a lot worse than death in this world. I would rather not wait months like with the others, but patience is a virtue I possess if I have to." He then remembered the gag and blindfold, applying them again as Near futilely struggled against him, and then he added the headphones, "Good luck."

He left, bolting the cell shut, and suddenly the task force flashed into his mind. He had seen the exact moment they broke for each and every one of them, and he could see it now, knowing full well that as long as Aizawa was being held captive by the Rebellion, Ide was—

_Oh. So that's Matsuda's plan._

This was certainly going to be entertaining.


	9. Chapter 9

Sayu tore into the food ration for the night she had been given by the Rebellion, starving after going too long without sustenance except water.

From the moment they entered, Nozomu's arrival had caused many people to help them. Others carried away Aizawa for questioning when he came to, and to get a feel for his condition—such as if he joined Kira willingly or not. She tried not to think about what Beyond had mentioned about the "old fashion way."

Beyond crossed his arms, looking at Sayu, "Slow down there, Tiger." She looked up,

"You haven't touched your own food."

"Oh. I don't need to eat," he replied, "It's nice, but when we have limited food, it's better if I don't."

"You don't need to eat?" He shook his head, and she cocked her head, "Why?"

B sighed from where he sat against a wall, looking towards the massive door, which was like a more stable garage door that cut off this base from the rest of the world. According to Nozomu, this was an old water storehouse made by the city a while back.

Scattered about in this underground storehouse were trailers and a large possibly armored truck with a television and an antenna on it.

She absently looked to what Beyond Birthday was staring at. That list which sent shivers up her spine, "Victims and missing persons are listed separately," she noted, "There are so many of both…"

"This isn't the level of murders..." B muttered, "This is more like war."

Minoru came over, "The Kira worshippers apparently call it a defending justice," he sighed, gritting his teeth, "That's just calling by a different name! It doesn't change what's happening outside. They've become this cruel, justifying their actions by calling it a revolution."

"You sound like you know about this pretty well," B replied, and Minoru shook his head,

"I don't, but Yumi and Taro call the shots around here, and both of them are either familiar with the task force or the Death Note."

"You would think an actual adult would do something around here," Beyond replied, and Minoru shook his head, 

"Come on, do you really see anyone over thirty around here? Most of them are power-hungry Kira worshippers or are the targets. If you are an adult, the robots are more likely to go after you. It's a warped kind of mercy, I suppose, giving us a 'chance to redeem ourselves in the eyes of God' or some other nonsense."

Sayu tensed, thinking about her poor mother. There was no way she would side with Kira, right? A thought occurred to her—what if her mother had been killed already? She shook her head, refusing to believe such things.

She looked up when she saw a horrified Yumi walk out of the room Aizawa was locked in once he had regained consciousness. Sayu stood up and approached the younger girl, "Yumi, what is it? Did you learn anything?"

"He..." her eyes were watering, "He doesn't remember me at all. I told him who I am, that I'm Yumi, his daughter, and he just stared at me like I was crazy!"

"Did you get any info, though?" Minoru asked, "About the Yellowbox warehouse?"

"All he said was he didn't know," Yumi replied, and Beyond got up,

"I believe him. Make sure nobody tries to torture him because he's probably telling the truth."

"How is that possible?" Minoru asked, and Beyond ran a hand through his hair,

"What if the task force was gassed?" He muttered, "After talking to Aizawa before, it's clear someone exploited his physical abuse and used it to break him. For that, you need resources, and it takes weeks, if not months, to fully change a person. I am willing to bet that in that warehouse, Kira worshippers had been waiting for them and gassed them, and then took them somewhere else for brainwashing—therefore, it makes sense he doesn't know what happened."

"That makes sense," Yumi muttered, hugging herself, "Dad told me that day... that if he didn't come home, to take care of Nozomu. I asked Ide to make sure Dad came home safe." Her sorrow became anger, "What did Kira do to them?"

Beyond Birthday put his hands in his pockets, "If it's anything like what I think happened, you really don't want to know." He looked around at other frightened people, and he observed a pretty ginger woman with her back to him, helping treat Nozomu's leg. "We shouldn't talk about this out here with young ears. Come on, let's get into the conference room."

They all went into the conference room and saw Taro was in there, reading from a little black notebook. She looked over his shoulder, "Is that the..."

"The Death Note," Taro stood up and showed her the notebook, "The person whose name is written in this notebook shall die. I have the eraser, so I should probably write your name and then erase it, so you're immune from Kira, just like everyone else here."

Sayu tensed, "Can we do that later?"

"Sure."

B stared at the notebook and then backed up slowly from it, "Doesn't that mean there's a Shinigami attached to that thing?"

"Yeah," Taro replied, "Ryuk. Kira's Shinigami." He held his hand up to stop the oncoming panic, "Don't worry. He's chill. Feed him apples to keep him content, and he can actually be somewhat useful since he's not on either team. He won't give us super helpful information, but he did reveal the Prime Minister is a puppet of Emperor Kira."

"Emperor Kira?!" Sayu staggered back, "You have to be joking."

"I wish I was," Taro replied, "Nobody has seen his face, as he only speaks to the public via broadcast—kind of like L years ago."

"Ah," Beyond muttered, "Just... um... out of curiosity...do you maybe know anything about the Prime Minister?" Sayu's brow furrowed when she noticed a strange change in Beyond's tone, as though he was high on something.

"B, you okay?"

"I..." her eyes widened when she saw his eyes flicker to red. Taro tensed visibly and moved the Death Note away,

"I'll put this away. Maybe you should lay down."

"Yeah... good idea." Beyond sat in one of the chairs, resting his head on the table, taking deep breaths. Yumi offered him some water, and he took it with a small grateful noise.

Sayu crossed her arms, "If the task force was gassed... my brother was playing the role of the second L. If Kira is using him as a trophy, that means we just have to find Light, and he might be able to tell us exactly what happened."

"But what if he's brainwashed too?" They all turned and saw the pretty young woman from before, and her brow furrowed when she saw Beyond, "B?"

He looked up to her, "Do I know you?"

"It's been years, so I doubt you remember me. I'm Linda from Wammy's House. I was around ten when you left."

"Linda?" B straightened before perking up, "Linda!" He got up on shaky legs, hugging her, "It's good to see you're still alive."

"If Light was brainwashed," Yumi pointed out, "Wouldn't Kira have him out and about to? There would have to be a reason he isn't, because what's the point of your trophy only being a rumor until the moment Sayu confirmed her brother was L?"

"Second L," B corrected harshly. "I am sure the real L is still alive too."

"To make sure we don't pull a stunt like this," Sayu offered, "Or maybe Light's holding strong and isn't broken yet. I don't know! But he has to be alive." She tugged at her hair, then a realization dawned on her, "Kira's son..."

"Sorry," Taro stopped her, "Kira's _what?"_

"His son. A sweet boy named Hoshi. He mentioned Light had been raising him. If Kira keeps Light as the 'mommy' of his son, that would explain why Light isn't seen."

"That's one hell of a power move," Minoru muttered, "Making your imprisoned enemy raise your kid. But doesn't that mean the kid's probably on our side?"

"Yeah, actually. I was captured for a time, and Hoshi helped me escape."

Yumi clenched her fists, a look of murder in her eyes, "Do you think we could use the kid as a bargaining chip with Kira?"

"I don't know," Sayu replied, and Linda bit her lip,

"If we somehow get past whatever security there is and abduct the boy, he could either be an ally, or a bargaining chip in exchange for one of the two Ls, assuming they are both alive."

"You believe the original is alive too?" Sayu asked skeptically, knowing she had to be careful about how she played her cards. But Linda nodded,

"I met L. He's pretty tough, so if anyone can stay alive for a decade in this hell, it's him." She pulled a paintbrush out of her coat, "So what's the plan?"

"Not die," Taro replied, "Kira can't kill us, but any number of other things could."

"But," Yumi pointed out, "As long as we have Dad here, if anything has stayed the same, Ide will stop at nothing to find him. They're extremely close." She hugged herself, "I hate to admit it, but I'm afraid of what will happen if we don't give Dad to them."

"Is Daddy going to be okay?" They turned and saw Nozomu limping in, and Yumi embraced him,

"Of course he will be. We'll think of something. But right now, Dad's having a really hard time, okay?"

"Is that why he didn't know me?"

"Exactly." Yumi picked up her little brother, "Come on, let's get you to bed. It's late." She left, and Sayu watched them go, seeing the boy's bandaged eye,

"What happened to his eye?"

"Robot tried to kill Yumi when the two of them escaped their own confinement, a lot like what I gather about yours. Nozomu shoved her out of the way and lost his eye." Taro answered, leaning on the table, "This whole situation is grating. If I had just..."

"If you had what?"

"Ryuk craves entertainment," Taro replied, "That's why when I didn't have interest in really using the Death Note, he dropped the one that is owned by Kira. If I had just been more entertaining, none of this would have happened."

"Taro—" Linda went to console him, but Beyond cut him off,

"Why won't you fight?"

"Hm?"

"This is supposed to be a rebellion, right? An organization to oppose those maniacs, right? If that's true...then fight."

"That's the plan," Taro replied, "But we have to consider a strategy. Risking your life is different from doing something you know will get you killed. Rushing in without any prospects isn't courage. It's just idiocy."

Beyond was stopped from saying anything by screams and cries of outrage, and they all ran out, seeing a broadcast on the truck screen.

"This is a trap!" Someone shouted, "They're trying to luring us out! Falling for their tricks won't get us anywhere!"

"Did something happen?" Sayu asked, and Yumi came over, shielding Nozomu,

"You two shouldn't look."

"Huh? Why not?" Sayu asked, running to the screen but then stopping in her tracks as she saw something that made her blood run cold.

Misa, blindfolded, being led to a stand where an execution block was ready. "Misa?!" Why was Misa being executed!? Had she been in confinement too?

Sayu could only watch in horror alongside others screaming for "Misa-Misa!" but Kira worshippers seemed fine with this from what she could see. 

She was helpless, frozen in fear at what was happening.

...

Hoshi trembled with wide eyes as he watched Mother being forced onto the execution block. The ax was so close to her neck. Dad had said he could choose how Mother died. He had read decapitation was over fast... he had pictured a sword and a single blow, now a clearly drunk executioner.

The worst part was hearing Mother crying and pleading for Kira to show her mercy. 

The masked executioner swung down...

And missed. It hit Mother's lower back instead, and Hoshi couldn't tear himself away from the screen as he heard Mother's agonized scream as the executioner tried again, this time only hitting a third of the way through her neck. Blood spurted everywhere until finally, her head came off, and her head was held up high.

He could still see the look of fear on her face. He could have sworn for a moment he could see facial movements.

"Hoshi?" He didn't turn away from the screen when he heard Dad's voice, "What are you—you're not supposed to be watching this."

"You were going to watch it," Hoshi whispered, and Dad nodded,

"Yes, but I set it to record so I could watch it when you were in bed. You didn't have to see that."

"That guy missed," Hoshi whispered, his voice shaking, "He was sloppy... had to—had to—"

"Shhh," Light picked him up and held him, running his hands through Hoshi's strawberry blonde hair, "She's out of our lives now. She'll never hurt us again."

"Are you going to do that to Mommy or Nate?" Hoshi asked, and Dad shook his head,

"I will never do anything like that with L. I can't do anything of the sort with Nate, even if I wanted to."

"Can I go stay with Mommy tonight?"

Dad sighed, "Fine." He put Hoshi down, "Run along, Hoshi."

Hoshi ran off, and the guards at Mommy's door let him in, "Mommy!" 

L turned from where he was standing at the window and rushed to Hoshi's side, pulling him close, "Hoshi, I was afraid you weren't safe."

He thought about his worries about Mommy just using him but tried not to think about it, beginning to cry in the arms of the one he knew was more his mother than the woman he accidentally damned to an agonizing death.

He couldn't do anything else except sob from his doubts and what he had just seen. He had nobody to blame but himself for turning on that television when he heard the servants discussing the execution happening.

...

L picked up the crying child, knowing that to ask him about Near was not wise, but the fact he hadn't come in last night or all of today, Light had been the one to catch him.

Thinking back on all those years ago, L found he could not exactly blame Light for wanting to have Misa gone. He knew enough about Light to know there was a genuine love for his son, albeit buried beneath the malice and thirst for power, so it was unlikely he had forced Hoshi to watch.

He tucked Hoshi into bed, sitting down beside him, looking to his own television where he had watched the execution. He could only hope that soon Sayu would be able to save them all. It was a gamble, but he didn't know what to do anymore.

But he couldn't wait for that. If Light was prepared for Hoshi to try defying him, L knew it was time he had to act. If he could break this chain around his ankle, he would take Hoshi and run, execution or torture be damned. He had to escape this place and bring the boy far away. Maybe that would put things in perspective for Light.

"Please sleep well, Hoshi," he whispered as Hoshi cried himself to sleep, "Escape this place, even if it's just in your dreams."

He thought about Watari, who used to stay by him when he had nightmares, and he had to squeeze his eyes shut as he laid down with Hoshi in an attempt to shield him from the world. It was strange, thinking about the idea this child might just grow up and save them after all—Kira's heir, with compassion rivaling his always-righteous grandfather.

He paused, feeling someone else in the room, and he turned, "It's been a long time since you've come to speak to me, Kira," he spat, surprised by the genuine pain in Light's eyes, "What do you want? Have you come to tell me Nate's next?"

"No," Light replied, "I came to make sure Hoshi's alright. I just watched the execution... that was... the servants who informed Hoshi of how to watch are going to die in the hour by a heart attack, and I've sent Mogi out to find Sayu, or he's next to die." He walked towards the sleeping Hoshi, but L stepped in front of him,

"He's asleep," L sneered, "Don't touch him."

"He's my son—"

"And as of now, it seems I am officially his mother," L snapped right back, "Meaning I have the power to tell you to get lost. You let your son watch Misa be killed!"

"I didn't." Light whispered, "I didn't know he would search for it, or how brutal that would be."

"How long is it going to be before too many of these things happen?" L asked harshly, "The slaughter outside won't end until Sayu is found, you say, and yet you could end all of this by coming clean about who you really are or luring her here by other means."

"Matsuda already has a plan in motion," Light replied, and L glared,

"Do I need to remind you what you did to them, Light?" he growled, "And what about when that day comes you're having Aizawa kill his own children he doesn't acknowledge anymore because of what you did to him!" He turned to make sure Hoshi was still asleep. Thankfully the child was a deep sleeper and was more than used to his biological parents screaming at each other in or near his room. At least that was what L had heard.

Light softened, cupping L's cheek and love in his eyes, which L was fully aware of. Still, that expression of true affection on the face of the man holding him prisoner brought both terror and fury, "You've changed, L," he smiled, "But still you're bringing up good points and fighting me, even after all these years. Having you by my side would bring great changes to the new world."

L was extremely unsure what was wrong with him to actually consent to the warm kiss he was given by Light, and for a moment to actually return it. Was he touched-starved? Insane? Still in love with the friend he had lost in his mind a mere five years ago? But then he remembered everything he had lost because of this awful, wicked, monster of a man, and he recoiled back.

Light, however, did not seem overly disappointed by the rejection. L wasn't sure whether to be disturbed or not by the fact Light was clearly much happier than he had in a long time, except for the regret of Hoshi seeing the execution.

L glared, "I'm shocked you're not here to make me suffer any further—even if your presence is miserable enough."

He instantly regretted saying that when Light came over, embracing him, but to whisper in his ear, "Near was given twenty lashes this evening." He then spoke in a normal voice with that sickening expression of affection on his beautiful face, "He will heal just fine. Perhaps Misa's was so brutal because I made sure to have one of the best, so there are no extra damages. I was going to give him much worse, but I am in a good mood today. It would be better if my sister were safe, and my son hadn't seen anything, but I'll count my fiancé's death as a victory."

Even if Light said he was merciful, L felt tears pouring down his face even though there was too much shock for a sob to form. The idea of Nate screaming in pain... whipping... he could never forgive that.

"You will never be able to escape." Light said in a manner that was both gentle and yet infuriatingly patronizing, "Just give up. The best way not to suffer from despair is to give up. You suffer because you resist. Simply concede. You'll feel much better. It's easy. Accept the despair and free yourself of pain."

L suddenly found the strength to move and ripped out of Light's embrace, staggering back towards Hoshi, who stirred a bit in his sleep, and he shielded the boy,

But he realized he could use this. If Light wanted him by his side... he could take advantage of this if he was careful. Of course, Light would expect a betrayal. He would have to prove his loyalty.

Was it worth it? To give in and stay by this man who was once a good friend's side, if it meant Hoshi and Near were safe?

It only took a moment for him to make his choice, but he knew to show that now would be suspicious.

He simply held Hoshi close and made it clear to Light that this conversation was over, and he wasn't going to gift him with a response.

Light walked towards Hoshi as though to wish him goodnight, but L smacked him away, and he was pleasantly surprised to find the emperor didn't fight him, merely leaving.

"It'll be okay, Hoshi," he vowed, "You're safe with me."

...

Light sighed as he left, knowing L was exactly right. But today, L had returned that kiss for a moment longer than other times over the years this had happened. It was going to be a long time before he could do that again since L would inevitably be angry about what happened to Near.

He did feel bad Hoshi had seen the execution, but he was confident Hoshi would be fine once he could experience life without Misa in his life.

Matsuda was leaning against the wall, "L plans to pretend to give in and then betray you—probably take Hoshi and run."

Light groaned, trying to hide his disappointment, "Why am I not surprised?" It did come in handy, Matsuda's ability to perfectly predict someone's actions. "I was not planning on removing the cuff from his ankle regardless to ensure that doesn't happen. But he does have a point. This slaughter needs to end now that Misa is dead."

"Agreed, Kira-Sama," Matsuda nodded, "However, we need to maintain the image that it is, to ensure the rest of the Rebellion remains hidden. They will likely keep Aizawa relatively unharmed both since he is Yumi and Nozomu's father, but as a bargaining chip to keep Ide from slaughtering them."

"You know he still will."

"Yes, but is that our concern, brother?" He paused, "I can give an order to Ide to only kill as needed to retrieve Aizawa and then leave, but are we sure such a thing would work? Using Aizawa was the thing to make Ide come to our side, so he will prioritize him over us."

Light put his hands in his pockets, "We need to bring Sayu back and think of a way she will not fight and will see how awful this world is outside of this violence Misa caused."

"Don't you worry," Matsuda smirked, "I already took that into accord. Just to be sure, I shall send out the former SPK as well, to ensure Ide doesn't do anything rash. If everything goes according to plan, we may even be able to retrieve the Rebellion's Death Note."

"Excellent." He headed to his chambers with Matsuda, but then pain from his low back acted up, and his legs gave out under him. Five years, and still, no amount of physical therapy had brought him back to normal. The doctor had said he was damn lucky to not be paralyzed.

Matsuda bent down beside him, helping support him back to his room, trying to bring him to the bed, but Light stopped him, "Bring me to my desk so I can get some work done."

"Of course," he set Light down, and he grabbed his Death Note, turning on the news on his computer to write down the names of criminals the justice systems were waiting for him to kill.

"Goodnight, Matsuda." Matsuda nodded acknowledgment and left, and Light opened another tab and observed parts of the world, and he noticed that society was changing.

In America, everyone was wearing black and had darkly-colored umbrellas covering their faces, even though it was dark and it wasn't raining. Light's brow furrowed as he noticed a similar trend in all the major cities, while this wasn't happening in Japan.

He couldn't help but wonder, what if Hoshi did turn against him? He just didn't understand how to connect with his son and make him see this was how the world should be. He looked down at his watch, "Dad, I wish you could help me with Hoshi. You would love him."

He wrote down many names and then went back to examining Near's hacking gun, having already figured out how to reverse-engineer it, so now he had to use it for the plan he had in mind.


	10. Chapter 10

Sayu was on her knees. What... What the hell was that?! The one thing she had always given Kira credit for before all this mess began was that he made his murders quick. But—But that—why? Why Misa? What had she done after five years to piss him off?

She tried to find a way to explain what had happened. Maybe as Light's fiancé, she was being killed as punishment for Light not obeying? Her stomach dropped as the thought occurred to her that what if Misa's death was the punishment for Hoshi letting Sayu go? No, that couldn't be, right?

B bent down beside her, "Hey, you okay?" She shook her head and leaned against his chest, sobbing. What if Light was next on the chopping block? She wasn't sure she'd be able to take it if she watched her brother die like that. He was still alive. He had to be.

Linda had a hand over her mouth and turned to Taro, "We may want to postpone the investigation plan if Kira's willing to kill like this. That was no way to go."

Sayu looked up, "Investigation plan?"

"We were planning to send some people to investigate the Sōri Daijin Kantei and the Imperial Palace for answers as to the Prime Minister and Kira. We know the Prime Minister is a man by the name fo Teru Mikami, but what exactly his ties to Kira are remain unclear."

"But I didn't escape either of those places," Sayu sat up, "Shouldn't we start with the building where Hoshi was?"

"But that seems like a place where Kira keeps _people_ of importance," Taro pointed out, "You can't go near that building within a hundred feet or you're shot dead. With that reasoning, the much larger grounds of the Imperial Palace might be easier to get into. If we can get a feel for where Kira is and how he moves, we may be able to figure out his identity."

"And after that?" B asked. Taro's grin darkened,

"Then we write his name in the Death Note. I highly doubt he's gone down the immunity route, and if he has, we can still go about this the old fashion way," he gestured to the gun at his hip.

Beyond's expression changed to something unreadable before he shrugged, "I mean, I can do it. I'm fast and can take down anyone in my path. Besides, I don't need to eat or sleep, which gives me a leg up since if anyone is at the Imperial Palace, it's probably going to be flesh and body people."

Sayu jumped up, brushing down her dirty pants, "I'm going with you!"

"What?" B tensed, "No, Sayu, you should stay here. Remember, muscle atrophy? Besides, I can't rely on your lifespan to keep you alive. You're safer here, and I need to get away from that notebook because it is doing something to me and I am not sure I like it."

"I know that I could be killed," she snapped, "But I just watched my sister-in-law get executed, and who knows when my brother is next? I'm not going to let Kira hurt him. How would you feel if someone told you to stay put when Lawliet's in danger?"

"I'd already be heading out the door." 

Sayu grabbed a bag from the conference room, grabbing some money just in case. Yumi stopped her,

"It's late and you're exhausted. You should try and get some sleep."

She huffed, knowing that, unfortunately, Yumi was right. "Fine. I'll take a nap and then B and I are out of here and finding answers." She went back to her cot and noticed Beyond looking uncomfortable, "What's wrong? You were just telling us earlier that we should fight."

He shook himself, "Oh, it's not that. The notebook's just making me feel weird." Sayu looked back towards the conference room where the notebook was hidden,

"I wonder why it bothers you so much." B shrugged,

"Beats me." He put his hands in his pockets, "So, I'm thinking Prime Minister's place first and then Imperial Palace? Maybe stop back here between to tell the others what we know."

"Sounds like a plan," she sat on her cot, shoulders slumped, "B...Do you really think we're going to be able to save everyone?"

"What? When had that been in the cards?" He put a hand on his chest, "My only plan is to find Lawliet and get the hell out of here. Maybe a nice cottage in the woods, just him and me."

"I know..." she chuckled humorlessly, "That's the kind of life I always dreamed of too. Just me and the people I love... but I still care about the task force, and they shouldn't be dragged down just because Kira messed with their minds. We can save them, right?"

"Depends," he laid down on his cot next to hers, "If it really happened the old fashion way, it took months, and it will probably take even longer to heal. For that to happen, we have to get all of them away from Kira's reach."

"Well, we can make that happen and Light will help us undo it." She turned on her side, "The main issue is how to find all of them, especially since the only person I am aware of who has seen Matsuda is Hoshi."

Beyond also turned on his side, "Right... be honest with me, you think Lawliet's dead and you're just playing along with me so I'll help you, right?"

Sayu's eyes widened. When had he seen through her?! He chuckled,

"You're good at lying verbally, but your expressions give you away. Neither of us know anything for sure. It could be Lawliet's alive and Light's dead, vice versa, or they're both alive. But as long as it's confirmed one of them is alive, at least one of us has some hope, right?"

"I guess you're right." She perked up, "So what's the plan tomorrow?"

"A lot of walking, fighting, and trying to break into homes of government officals," he gave a little nonchalant shrug, "As you do."

"No... that's not really what I do." She stretched her back, "Sounds like it won't exactly be fast."

"Oh it's gonna take days. Get ready for a lot of sleeping in unpleasant places. I find pretending we're in a zombie apocalypse makes it more enjoyable."

She blinked, "Why would pretending we're in a zombie apocalypse _possibly_ make it more enjoyable?"

"Because let's be honest, most people are so used to the zombie apocalypse trope that when you're prepared, the hardest thing to do is not be excited." She giggled,

"You sound like my brother. He used to watch those kinds of movies with me and explain what characters are doing wrong and how to stay alive." She snuggled into her pillow, thinking about the good old days, and tears welled up as Misa's execution flashed back into her mind. 

B hesitated for a moment before placing a hand on her shoulder, "We're going to find him, okay?"

"You don't know that."

"At the very least we're going to find his body and can give him a proper burial. Is that better?"

"No, not really..." she met his eyes, "But thanks for trying." She felt her eyelids get heavy as she began drifting off to sleep, "Night, B."

"Sleep well, Sayu."

OoOoO

Yumi watched Beyond Birthday and Sayu leave the base in the morning to begin their search for answers. She didn't fully understand why only one of them had an alias, but according to Linda, it was a Wammy's House thing.

She hoped they would find answers because the sooner they figured out what had happened to Dad...

She grabbed her personal rations and entered the room he was being held in, closing the door behind her. Dad was a pitiful sight, the bandage over his ear having not been changed yet since he wouldn't let anyone near him. The only things he said was "I don't know" in response to most questions and "Don't touch me" to anything else.

"Hey, Dad," she tried, putting the food tray next to him, "I know it's not much... sorry about that, we're a little low on resources." He didn't reply, and she noticed he was much paler than he had been earlier, with a sheen of sweat on his forehead and the slightest flush on his cheeks. The wound must be getting infected... she went to check his temperature, but he turned away, struggling against the restraints of his arms and legs. "Dad—"

"Stop calling me that!" He suddenly shouted, "I don't know who you are, stop lying to me!"

Yumi recoiled, "Dad... I'm your daughter. You didn't forget Nozomu and I, right?"

He narrowed his eyes, finally sitting up a bit, but turning away again, "I don't see what you gain from lying to me."

Yumi's brow furrowed. "I don't gain anything, which is why I'm _not_ lying to you." Regardless of what they were talking about, he was finally talking, which had to be worth something, right? Maybe a fever was making him a little more open-mouthed? She put on a sweet smile, "Dad, you don't have to be afraid of me. I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to know what happened so I can help you."

"First step to helping me is stop pretending to be my daughter."

"But—"

"Don't you get it?!" He turned to her, his eyes crazed, "My daughter is _dead._ I saw her and my son's bodies, so no matter what you say, I know you're lying!" 

Silence. Yumi's eyes widened as she saw the pain in his eyes, and she realized... this wasn't an act at all, and it wasn't that he didn't remember his children like she had thought. He truly thought they were dead, and the Rebellion was taunting him.

_"Dad, why do you stay with Mother? She hurts you, so can't you just leave? You love someone else, right?"_

_"It's not that simple, Yumi. If I leave, your mother will get full custody of you and your little brother. Maybe it's not like that everywhere, but I don't stand a chance of winning custody in Japan. Nobody will believe me if I say she hurts me. I stay because you and Nozomu mean more to me than anything, okay? I'm not going anywhere."_

Her eyes watered as she thought back on that day so many years ago, "Dad, I promise you, that wasn't Nozomu and I. We were confined for five years in a nice apartment, but we escaped." Dad shook his head, struggling still against his bonds, and she went to try and soothe him, only for him to headbutt her hard, sending her reeling back, and the room spun momentarily.

"Stop lying to me!" He began screaming, "IDE!"

"Dad!" Knowing it was a bad idea, she pinned him to the wall and put her hand to his forehead, "You're burning up, you need to let me treat your infection or you could die!"

"Don't touch me!" He forced himself off the bed and onto the ground, the dirty bandages pressed to the floor as he refused to let her near him.

"Daddy?" she turned and saw Nozomu had opened the door, "I brought you some water." Dad only let out another enraged cry, and Yumi hurried over to her little brother,

"I need you to get some of the others in here. Dad's got an infection and I can't treat him on my own."

Nozomu was stopped from saying anything when the sound of an explosion made them both stop in their tracks. Yumi looked out, terror making her blood run cold as she saw her worst nightmare realized.

Robots, Kira worshippers, and in the center of it all...Ide, who didn't seem to care about the Rebellion members being cut down and some trying to scatter. He checked something in his hand and came directly to where Dad was locked up. Yumi was just barely able to pull Nozomu out of the way and get her gun at the ready.

Alright... she didn't have to _kill_ Ide... just injure him enough they could use him as a bargaining chip to get out of here alive. Nozomu cried, hiding in a dark corner and whimpering for this to please be over. Yumi's heart ached for her little brother, ten years old, with a missing eye and a damaged leg.

She peeked in to see what she was up against in terms of weaponry.

What she saw startled her.

Ide, with the utmost care, undoing Dad's restraints and pulling him close. It was then that she noticed Ide had the same ring Dad had been wearing, only now the gem wasn't red, but green now that they were together.

So that had been how Ide was able to find them. He and Dad could find each other through their rings. Did the rest of the task force have those or was it just Dad and Ide? She had heard about the SPK as well. Were they here?

"You're safe now," Ide assured Dad, noticing the fever and bandages, cupping his cheek tenderly, "What did they do to you?"

It was now or never. Yumi stepped into the doorway, gun at the ready, "Don't move! Remove your forces from here and I'll spare your life." She cringed at the first words out of her mouth because now there was no way Dad would believe the truth instead of whatever lie Kira had fed him.

Ide didn't seem to care whatsoever, keeping Dad supported and close in one hand and pulling out a much bigger gun with the other. She barely even processed it with how nonchalant he was until she felt almost like an extremely painful punch to the gut, which she realized quickly was actually a bullet to her shoulder.

"Yumi!" Nozomu hurried over to her as she staggered towards the closest wall, staring blankly in front of her as her body tried to process what just happened. Memories overwhelmed her of when she was little, and Dad always protecting her. This wasn't right. Dad would never stand by and let her be shot. Even if she knew he didn't think it was really her, it still had such a suffocating feeling of wrong to it that she couldn't think.

Through her blurring vision, she saw Ide carrying Dad out of the cell. She wasn't sure if it was her hopeful imagination or blood loss really messing with her head, but she could have sworn she momentarily saw a look of concern on Dad's face. 

She dully heard Nozomu crying, but she couldn't say anything, exhaustion threatening to claim her as her lifeblood spilled from her shoulder. Her eyes slowly slid closed.

_I'm sorry, Dad, I can't keep my promise and protect him..._

...

"That boy..." Aizawa squirmed a bit where he was being carried bridal-style in Ide's arms, "The boy's innocent... he doesn't know what he's doing."

Ide looked back to the crying child and a bitter smile formed on his face. It wasn't the child's fault he was being told to pretend to be Nozomu Aizawa. The Rebellion and that woman could have done any number of things to him if his injuries said anything.

Gevanni came over, "We found the Death Note, and the owner of it." He held up the notebook and gestured to the young man who had been forcefully sedated, and Ide nodded his acknowledgment, then gestured to the child,

"Lock up the owner. We'll also take the boy with us. Shuichi and I will care for him," he knew Aizawa still hadn't gotten over the deaths of his own children, so perhaps having a child to take care of would help him feel better. But for now, it was of a higher priority to get his fever under control. What had the Rebellion done to him to wound him like this and let it get infected? He noticed bruising and a cut at Aizawa's temple, implying he had been hit in the head by perhaps metal.

He heard the child crying out in protest, and those of the Rebellion dying but not dead, trying to survive. A few had scattered, unfortunately. He would have to send out the others later. And he would have to give Matsuda a piece of his mind for putting Aizawa in danger like this when they all knew he worked better at long-range. But the only thing that mattered right now was Aizawa, who needed immediate care.

He carried Aizawa all the way to an armored vehicle aboveground, which wasn't too large, but it had a bed and some walking room. It was essentially a glorified mobile tent.

Aizawa shivered, relaxing when he was wrapped in a blanket.

"Just rest, Shuichi," he brushed back Aizawa's hair, which had begun sticking to his forehead from sweat.

"I have to find Sayu..." he whispered, but Ide shook his head,

"You're not going to do anything until we can get you cared for." He pulled out some bandages to change out the bloody ones, rage coursing through his veins as he saw what had been done. "Light will understand that. Gevanni will bring him the Rebellion's Death Note, and he will be satisfied. The others can retrieve Sayu. For now, you get some sleep, and I'll bring you back to the tower."

"Okay," he closed his eyes to rest, and Ide went to the controls of the armored vehicle, contemplating if it was worth it to take Aizawa and get out of here until he was well instead of going back to the tower.

He decided to head back because he needed to talk to Matsuda about what the hell that had been. He had a feeling all of this had been Matsuda's plan all along to find and kill the Rebellion, but to treat them as pawns? Hell, Ide was fine if _he_ had been the sacrificial lamb, as long as Aizawa wasn't the one being thrown to the wolves.

He had made a vow to himself that nobody was going to hurt Aizawa again. No matter what fate Ide faced, Aizawa was going to be safe.


End file.
